Minnesota Vikings LOSE to Philadelphia Eagles

Minnesota Vikings LOSE to Philadelphia Eagles

Purple Daily is daily Vikings entertainment. I just want the Vikings to win a Super Bowl before we die. I will ride with this group. Seriously, man. Please. And away we go. All right. Welcome in to Vikings Vent Line, the Purple Daily postgame edition here live on the Purple Daily YouTube channel. We got the sports dad from US Bank Stadium right now in the press box. uh decks holding it down, spinning plates, and uh taking your requests at Vikings [email protected]. And I am Phil Mackey. This is the people show, the most fan-friendly show in all of Minnesota sports. And after a game like that, it’ll be a therapy session for about the next couple hours here. So, we’re going to we’re going to turn the show over to you guys as we usually do. Uh again, you can request to be a part of the show by emailing Vikings ventlinegmail.com. Keep it clean. don’t get us in too much trouble and uh try to get to your point pretty quickly because we’re going to try and get to as many therapy sessions as possible before we give our main takeaways from a 2822 home loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Uh Jud, couple things. North American Banking Company powering Vikings vent line and Quick Trip. I don’t know, man. Quick Trip, maybe they can help with the therapy here. Maybe they got maybe I can binge snack or something by stopping into Quick Trip. That’s a fantastic idea cuz how about this? If you are craving something sweet, uh, step into the flavor of a good oldfashioned bake sale, Quick Trip style. What about that? Satisfy that sweet tooth with their premium doughnuts. Now just $2.99 for a three-pack. Choose from Quick Trips Fluffy Long John’s classic big uh Bismar or Ring Donuts as well. Delicious, just like the ones that came from your hometown bakery. Quick Trips Premium Donuts now only $2.99 again for a three-pack. You talk about something that’s going to make you feel good on a Monday after a tough Sunday. That is a sweet deal. So treat yourself only at Quicktrip. Uh let’s get right into it here. Just Jud, your biggest takeaway from this 28-22 home loss to the Eagles. Oh, I’m disgusted. I they they completely lost a g They lost a game that the football gods kept trying to give them and and I I mean I could I could scatter my disgust. Carson Wentz defense in the second half. Well, you are the pie chart chef for tomorrow. So you get to do that tomorrow. Yes. And everyone’s going down here. Everyone uh Will Riker, you get a break. Okay. You you had a great day. Red zone offense, some of the play calling. Wentz’s I mean we did get the entire Carson Wentz car wash though. Like we got the entire experience from the terrible to when to him improvising to the fact that he can’t hit Justin Jefferson on in one series on three plays. He like was nowhere near a guy who catches almost everything. Um and I don’t blame Look Addison and Jefferson did their parts. Uh but my god, that was that is a loss. The difference is this. You look back at the Falcons game, right? And they stunk. Like they stunk. It’s frustrating, but they stunk. And and you’re like, that’s a loss. Like that’s a bad loss, but that’s a loss. This one’s going to come back to bite you in the ass because Philadelphia and the football god sat there today, missed field goal opportunities in the second half, just come back and take the game. And the Vikings, the Vikings puked it up. So, I am extremely frustrated by what we saw. Not to influence the chef Jud for the pie chart tomorrow, the pie chart of blame off this loss, but I think there were three, I don’t know if they’re equal reasons for the loss, but like three main headlines for why the Vikings lost this game. Settling for field goals in the red zone is definitely in the three. The two terrible interceptions by Carson Wentz. The pick six. He did stand in there and took a huge shot to the midsection, but uh he did not see the linebacker. Was it an edge rusher? I can’t remember who uh picked that off. Kind of dropped back into coverage. And so either way, that was probably headed for disaster. And then the Vikings defense, Brian Flores and the Vikings defense basically said, Jaylen Herz, go ahead and try to beat us. We’re going to we’re going to we’re going to try and corral you in the pocket. We are going to uh attempt to limit the run game. And they did a good job on Saquon Barkley. And if Jaylen Herz beats us over the top, then oh well, I guess you tip your cap. And uh you’re going to have to tip your cap because uh Jaylen Herz hit three long touchdown passes and then the game sealer to AJ Brown, which could have been a touchdown if uh if he wanted it to be. By the way, Isaiah Rogers, who had a couple things to say this week on social media about his former organization and uh who wanted who to come back or not, and he was the victim of at least two of those long balls. But the Vikings defense got absolutely smoked in the highest leverage spots on deep passes against one of the most struggling offenses in the league through the first two months. I feel like Brian Flores needs to be sat down and talked to about who Josh Matelis is. And and here’s where it’s biting you in the ass, and we called this in the summer, they don’t want to play Okuda. So, they’re trying to keep him off the field as much as possible. So, as Phil said, I think on the text thread, they’re playing three safeties. Okay. AJ Brown being guarded by or being covered by Josh Matelis, which is what it was. Like, there’s no mixup there. Are you kidding me? He is a bo he is a box safety hybrid linebacker who maybe can take some nickel snaps. That’s your coverage plan. If that’s your coverage plan because you don’t want to play Okuda, then you messed up as bad as we said that you did by having Jeff Okuda on your team playing a nickel role that you don’t think he can truly play. Okuda, by the way, I think if the snap count that I’m looking at is right, he played 11 snaps in this game. So maybe this is like not quite up to date, but he he played very few snaps today. And he’s your third quarterback to your point. And I think the the Vikings defensively and Brian Flores and the personnel decisions they’ve made over the last couple years have built up so much equity and benefit of the doubt that you kind of say, “All right, well, I mean, hell, he’s he’s seen something in all these other players. Blake Cashman, like he’s built up a ton of goodwill with personnel decisions that, you know, we’re just idiots on the outside looking in. I mean, seems a little rickety to have Jeff Akuda as your third quarterback and then nothing else of substance behind that that you can lean on. And uh and I think like there’s a lot of games where you can get away schematically the way they play with just two traditional quarterbacks and then these hybrid sort of safeties that they run out there, right? And you can get away with it and they have uh Devonte Smith and AJ Brown. If you’re talking best wide receiver receiver duos in the NFL, I think Jamar Chase T. Higgins, Jordan Addison, Justin Jefferson are going to have a say, but in that Mount Rushmore are the guys you face today. And it would be nice to have more than two quarterbacks that you can lean on uh even against a team that doesn’t hit a lot of big passing games. But I think it was a perfect passer rating for Jaylen Herz in this one. Yeah. 158.3, 326 yards, 14 yards per attempt, almost 20 yards per completion. And uh it’s in part because you don’t have a lot of guys that can cover one-on-one on the out when you’re when you are that it sounds to me like according to because we didn’t get to see the all 22 like Greg Olsen gets to watch the whole game. Lot of single high we dare you to beat us over the top. And how many times did you see either Matelis or Isaiah Rogers who’s been your best cover corner seven yards behind a streaking Eagles wide receiver? So, this was about as badly as a Brian Flores defense has gotten it handed to him since he joined the Vikings. Dex, what was your main takeaway? I I I uh know a lot of people are probably going to come on here and say, “Wow, Dex Carson Wentz, that was pretty brutal.” You’ve been maybe warning us about this and it was awful. Uh I we got the full Jud said the car wash experience, not even the pick six and the other one where he got lit up um or just threw a kind of a heave ball in his end zone. the intentional grounding was an absolute drive killer. Like, what are you doing? He threw behind the sticks uh or behind the line of scrimmage out of bounds that also backed them up. Um I I I don’t care if that ankle was at 80%. JJ McCarthy has to start on Thursday night and a short week. I you cannot keep doing this with Carson Wentz. The defense, in my opinion, throughout the first half held them in check. The red zone trips for the offense, uh they got down there. They weren’t able to convert to first six and touchdowns, but they can’t do it. They This cannot continue anymore. If if I’m Kevin Oonnell and I’m the Vikings, I’m making the switch and it’s time to start your era. Spencer Rattler looks really good today. Drake May is is entering MVP conversation in my opinion with how he’s well he’s been playing. These quarterbacks are from that draft class are starting to play. I know there’s been some circumstance with injuries hurting McCarthy from getting on the field, but it’s time, man. It’s absolutely time to unleash JJ McCarthy. And I’m not saying results be damned, but let the dude run away with it and let’s see what he’s got. I think I think Carson went uh as we call on the show, blue screen of death at least six times. I was just documenting some of the you could feel pretty early on, oh this is this is going to be he’s got the shoulder that he’s probably thinking about and you know the center it’s a second time ever center again and Blake Brle. going to get that version of Carson Wentz today. I’d love to go back and uh look at the film as they say, but I think he missed two touchdown opportunities to Jordan Addison in the first quarter. Addison was 10 yards behind a defender and they completed the pass, but it took him like contorting his body and and catching it before he falls out of bounds. I think that was a touchdown if Wentz just puts the ball out in front of him. And then was it a play or two later in the red zone? Uh, and again, Greg Olsen has access to the the sort of endzone all 22 cam and he can see more things than we can on the broadcast. He missed Addison on a little like flat route that looked like a walk-in touchdown both on that drive. The other one Declan mentioned the intentional grounding, the intercept, the yolo ball on the second and 25. That was just a bizarre sequence. But the but before that to set up the second and 25 he had that wildly inaccurate backwards pass that cost the Vikings 10 yards. So it was like every 25 minutes of real time Carson Wentz was Carson Wentzing in that game. And but then of course he shows some grit at times and there’s you know it that was the full experience from both terrible and uh even some of the good plays that he made. That’s just a terrible loss. Worst loss as far far as I’m concerned of the entire season. worst losses. I mean, everybody everybody screwed the pooch aside from the kicker. Like you’re big big like Bill bailed him out with a 59 yard on that. And you know what? If your defense is not getting burned right and left, you actually could have won that football game with Wentz playing bad. So like it’s just it’s so frustrating to me the fact that you that you dropped a home game that I mean, let’s be honest, they might be defending super champions. The Eagles have a lot of flaws, okay? Including their play calling at times, which I didn’t get. Um, but the key was too where the Vikings got a opportunity from God was when Cam Jurgens, their center, got hurt. It stalled their run game. Like he was the key when they came out and they had so much success with Barkley. That was Jurgens. He comes out, the the protection goes down, the run game uh goes down as well and they didn’t capitalize. This is this is just beyond frustrating to me. Yeah, it was it was there for the taking. uh they should be 4 and2 and instead they gave up home run after home run and all the things we talked about. So we’re going to turn this over to you guys Vikings fans here in a second. There’s over 5,000 people hanging out with us right now live on the Purple Daily YouTube channel. If you haven’t already, please click that subscribe button and the like button to uh keep spreading the word about the best and biggest Vikings podcast fan community on the internet, Purple Daily. Uh Dex, who’s first out of the gate here? Yeah. Uh, let’s go to is it Sanji? It’s Sanji. Sanji. Sanji. What’s up, Sanji? Nice to meet you guys. Longtime listener or longtime follower, first time sorry. My husband is an Eagles fan, which is why he was very excited for the two of us to be on this today. Um, but I know we’ve talked about Carson once a little bit, so I’ll keep this kind of short. Don’t want to talk about the offense too much, but biggest things for me, um, I guess I will talk about the offense a little bit. one for six in the red zone on touchdowns was just absolutely embarrassing. Um I think we really should have done better there. And then also generally speaking, I think we’re missing Ryan Kelly a lot. I know our O line hasn’t been the best over the years, but break brand was just getting abused left and right. And I really think we need to clean that up. And then last thing I’ll mention is that defense could have been better during this game, but I think that very last drive where the Eagles needed that first down to win the game, having single man-to-man coverage on AJ Brown just was abominal in my opinion. So, going to keep that short. Um, but yeah, been a listener for a very long time and love the work that you guys do. So, school bikes and hopefully we have a better game on Thursday. Thank you, Sanji. And uh pay no mind your your trolling Eagles fan uh boyfriend in the background. Yeah, they what’s what’s kind of crazy is they the Vikings have been one of the worst third down teams offensively in the NFL. They were seven of 15 on they had a couple third downs you’d like to have back, but they were seven of 15 on third down. They averaged about six yards a play. Like they were chunking the ball offensively, but it was it was the turnovers. It was the it was like the highest leverage spots that they came up short again. And if you can flip a couple of those field goals into touchdowns, the game is totally different. And but it’s not just like, oh, the Eagles made a good play here and there. It’s went with a ridiculous intentional grounding. It’s it’s just self-inflicted stuff. Or there was a sequence where Kevin Oonnell, they’re at the sixyd line and it’s a second and one. So, okay, maybe try a pass. That’s whatever. Try a pass. Um, and you got your you got your backup backup center in there. But dude, just you’ve got Donovan Jackson and Christian Darasa over here. Run the ball on second and one, third and one, fourth and one, set up a first and goal from the three yd line or just run it into the end zone. He just inexplicably forgets about the run game in the deep red area, which is the biggest reason why you got bounced from the season at the end of 2024. He is bound and determined not to adjust and and I think he becomes more stubborn as people say that he should adjust. How about the slant pass to Jefferson? 18yd gain. Work of art. Like that is okay. Okay. Now we’re on to something with Carson Wentz. Like let’s find what Carson Wentz can do well. Not what you like. And that was sort of it like that that uh the pass to Jefferson that was a 40 yard gain which Justin did all again. Get the ball in his hands. I’ll tell you what, the flea flicker the the reverse flea flicker Justin Jefferson I don’t know if team was a Jut approved trick play. No because here here’s the problem. It was if if it had stopped with the ball in 18 hand 18’s hands. I don’t know if you could see it on TV. If Justin Jefferson keeps that ball, there is nothing but green. Everyone, you can’t like Yeah, but you can’t You’re saying that he should have just abandoned the play mid-sequence. I’m saying if that play was designed in its course not to give the ball back to Wentz, by the way, who is going to be pooping his pants when you do that. Like Like I told you guys, he’s a diaper quarterback. He got a first down off that play. He lit first down because of a PI and the ball went to Hawinson. And we could talk about him too because statistically he had a a nice day. He’s got nothing left though, man. He can barely run now. But anyway, if Jefferson, if that play is designed for Jefferson to keep the ball, he had nothing but green in front of him. And do you think that Justin Jefferson, best player on the team, best player on the field in my opinion, even with Smith and AJ Brown, you think Justin Jefferson could have done a little something other than dish the ball back to Wentz, who’s hyperventilating and makes a short throw and they were fortunate to get a first down that would have gone for my estimation at least 35 yards. There is a actually I I’m more interested in the Hawinson thread off of off of that cuz it’s uh Don’t let the stats fool you folks. It’s hard. Well, the stats aren’t good. like he’s he’s I mean seven yards per catch there’s a few there’s not a lot there’s not a lot after the catch there’s it’s winding down the the diving catch in the end zone I it’s hard to rip him for that cuz that was a full layout and very 50/50 even on the review there where you want to go with that but uh it yeah it just it has felt like he’s just kind of he’s certainly certainly should not he’s not performing like one of the highest paid tight ends in the league I think I think that’s fair to say uh and they and they signed him to that contract before the big injury and it just feels like he’s a different dude after the injury to this point. Uh let’s go to the stadium now. Let’s go to Dylan. Dylan, you’re at US Bank. What’s going on? Hey Dylan. Hey guys. Hey Phil. Hey Jud. Hey Dean. You guys can hear me. Okay. Yeah, we got you, man. All right. Uh I have my wife here, uh Amber as well. It’s our second anniversary. Uh we got married a couple years ago and it was a good time going to visit the Vikings game. a little sad we couldn’t come away with the win, but uh stadium had about I’d say about 70% Vikings fans, 30% uh Eagles fans. I would say a lot of our area, we were like on the main floor area and there was a lot of Eagles fans around us, so that was kind of annoying, but that’s okay. Uh I do want to say um that there is some positives to take away. Like for example, Jaylen Redmond was really good today. It looked like he was just all over the field. He looked really good. Eric Wilson had a couple sacks or about one and a half sacks as well. Like the front four like was it was really frustrating when they let Jaylen Herz run around, but their run defense and like getting home a couple times was pretty good I’d say. Uh so there’s some positives there. And then Jordan Addison had just a day with those out routs. They could not stop him. It was insane. Those out like he like every single time he was like out out for like one drive. I think they did it three times in a row. It was insane. So, it’s really frustrating, but there are some positives to take away from this game as well. Dylan, hey, happy anniversary two years to you both. Enjoy the rest of your day. Uh, bring in some positivity. I don’t know if there’s I already saw a fire positive fill in here. I don’t know how many people want to hear positivity after after that game, but yeah, they were like the I get the conundrum with the pass rush because you’re you’re not just selling out to rush the passer with a mobile quarterback like that. you’re trying to like keep contain and get pressure up the middle and they did a pretty good job at times, but to to get some of that pressure, you’re sending an extra guy or two and you’re trusting your cornerbacks andor your safeties, your Josh Mattelis’s to hang with two of the best receivers in the league one-on-one and uh yeah, it didn’t happen. So, let let’s actually go down go down the path of that first touchdown pass that I talked about with Matelis on AJ Brown, which was a disaster in the coverage, but let’s go back to that play because in that one, they actually did not send the pressure. Dallas Turner uh tried to apply pressure while everybody else sort of hung back because they were trying to contain Jaylen Herz. It’s a threeman rush and it didn’t work out. So, like that’s the thing. And and I will say this on Herz’s behalf. Bringing him down, getting to him is one thing. It’s very doable. bringing him down once you get to him I think is extremely difficult. But this all comes back to to your point then of who’s in coverage. And uh look, I have not complained one bit uh thus far about the signing of Isaiah Rogers and I will not. Okay, tough day, but I get that. But the Okuda thing is a different in my opinion because we did talk about that extensively. Uh but yeah, I mean for anyone that thinks after watching him today, for anyone who thinks that Jaylen Herz is okay, he’s an okay quarterback, uh he presents a lot of problems. And look, if there was a quarterback uh um fight card today, a scorecard. Oh, it’s it’s a it’s a KO. It’s not a TKO, it’s a KO. Yeah. All right, Dex, back to Vent Line here. Who’s next out of the gate? Yeah, I think Zach is walking out of the stadium. Zack, can you hear us? You’re on Vent Line. I got you. I wish I was walking out of the stadium. I am walking over some random swamp in Rapids. You know, it might as well be the same thing after that performance today. Exactly. Exactly. No. Uh yeah. No. Here’s my dog real quick. Theo, hold up. Say hi, Theo. Oh, here. Theo was a good boy. Good boy. Yeah. Good boy. He uh he was so upset during the game that he went with my wife upstairs um to take a nap because she was also upset with the game. She’s like just getting on her Vikings fandom this year. She uh actually knows Carson and his quarterback coach from her NDSU days. So like big fans. We were at the Bengals game and she was like, “Oh my gosh, I’m a Vikings fan this year.” And then she left after that second pick. So what was that second quarter? So I think we lost her. Um but maybe that’s okay. Couple couple quick takes. Uh play calling. I know we’ve talked a lot about it, but I don’t know. Phil, you said it. Second down and one at the six. Why are we not running the ball three times there defensively? Brian Flores, why don’t we have safety help at the end? Or maybe there was. I just didn’t see it. But that was it was not a good day for play calling. Um on the positive side, the positive Phil side, if you want to call it, um we were terrible in the red zone and we almost won the game. We were down by one score at the end. And you know, if you if you convert two of those tries in the in the red zone, this game is over. Heck, if you convert all of those, it’s a blowout. So, yeah, I don’t know. Positive, negatives there, but thank you guys. Love the show. Yeah. No, some good points. I mean, yeah, people don’t want to hear it, but there there was actually a lot of really good, but the bad was so eyepoppingly bad that it overshadows everything and that’s why you lose the game. But the good makes it worse. Like, like if they had just played a crappy game, like the Falcons game, they just lost. They got their ass kicked, okay? if these two plays had been different. So like I’m more frustrated by this than the Falcons game because of the fact that you were given opportunities. And again, I’ll go back to it. The Eagles are flawed. They’ve got some really nice players. They’re not a bad team, but they’re a flawed team. They came into your building and basically said, “Okay, you know what? Take the game.” And the Vikings are like, “No, no, no. You take the game.” And ultimately the Vikings prevailed. Vikings, by the way, as we sit here and this will be the case the entire week uh are in last place in the NFC North. Don’t let the Bears get hot at three and some softies coming up here. The Bears have a weak weak spot on their schedule. They beat the Saints at home today to get to 4-2. The Lions are 4-2. Uh and the Packers are 3-1 and one. So even if the Packers lose, they will be a half game ahead of the Vikings because of that tie. So, no matter what, the Vikings for another week are going to sit in last place in the NFC North. Plus, even if uh a miraculous playoff run happens now, two head-to-head losses to Eagles and Falcons will definitely even comp I think the Eagles will win the NFC East, but certainly not um not a not a a given, but two two conference losses too will make things very difficult if you are in the playoff picture by, you know, two months from now at the end of the season. Yeah. Let’s go back to the vent lines here, Dex. Yeah. Uh Dylan, what’s going on, man? You’re on me. Yeah, we got you, Dylan. What’s up, man? Awesome. Awesome. Well, you know, I kind of have a couple things today. You know, for one, I feel like we kind of got hit with some some typical Viking stuff that I don’t think we talk about a lot where it’s like whatever a team seems to do the worst at coming up to the game, they’ll talk about all week long. Oh, the Eagles pass games in ruins. The receivers hate Jaylen Herz. Oh, you know what’ll fix that? Play the Vikings where you can get you both receive. We can we can put up 300 yards of offense, throw no incomplete passes, everyone eats, everyone loves each other, you know. See, Dylan, what’s funny, you’re 100% right, but if you would have told me, hey, the Eagles are going to the Eagles are going to win this game and their offense is going to go off, I would have said, for all the reasons you just mentioned, oh, this is going to be the week that their running game gets going and Squan has a buck 60 and three touchdowns. But it it was the passing game. Yeah. You know, and I also what I didn’t like was the offense. Um, I put I put this loss in the offense. I’m kind of more okay with what happened on defense. I feel like the defense gave us every opportunity to to kind of take a chokeold to this thing and start really frustrating the Eagles. But when you don’t take advantage of anything defense gives you, you know, they start they start feeling themselves and getting going. But anyway, you know, I think KC put us in a couple positions to make some plays. But, you know, as we talked about with Kirk was, you know, like we don’t we don’t hate we don’t hate him for the performance, but the money that the money we’re paying him for the performances we’re getting, you know, sometimes with Justin Jefferson, and I hear me, hear me out. Hear me out. Like, Justin, I love him. Obviously, I’d fight for him to be the number one receiver over anybody, but Jamar Chase catches that touchdown and we’re not having this conversation, you know, like are the team is struggling. You need to rely on somebody. Carson Wentz throws the only good pass he throws all day to you over Cooper Dean who I’m sorry shouldn’t be able to hang with you. You got to catch the ball, Justin Jefferson. We need you to catch the ball in that situation to get us going. You know, I love him, but it happens a lot. I mean, you look at um JJ McCarthy’s last um game against the the Falcons. There was a couple passes in there where JJ’s trying to get going and hits Justin in the chest, bounces off. Now it’s third and long. We get sacked. Everything kind of falls apart. Sometimes we need him to be a catalyst and not like just get going when everything is going, you know? So, I’ll let you guys get back to it, but that’s kind of my thought. Wow. Dylan. Dylan. Okay. Let’s let’s examine that just for a second. If you Yeah. But if you’re going to do a pie chart of assessment of blame, which I am for tomorrow. Yes, that ball. It would have been nice if it had been caught and you can certainly make a good case it should have been okay. Nice play by Deine, but yes, he’s Justin Jefferson. He can catch that ball. So, I understand what he’s saying, but if you’re going to go through what went wrong like like I cannot just allow the defense to just have a pass. Well, they put the offense in a good position at times. I can’t do that. So, like, yes, Jefferson, I’d like to see him catch that that pass, but there are so many other things that should have happened to win that game that this is not even close to being I mean, just for reference sake, Justin Jefferson will not be on my list tomorrow when I do the pie chart of blame. Dylan, did Dylan just burp? That was a great one, but Oh, shoot. I I I po I popped Dylan back in uh so that we could award him if he’s interested the crybaby Craig’s vent of the week. Yeah. Because you know what in a game like that there’s not many untouchables for a pie chart to blame and not many people are willing to go where you went and criticize Justin Jefferson. But it’s a worthwhile talker. So Dex explain uh you are the Crybaby Craig’s venter of the week here on Vikings. Yeah. Hey Dylan, wi with with the belch uh uh send me back an email uh with just your information uh your name, your address, your your hoodie size to get a Crybaby Craig’s um uh prize pack from our friends here, which will give you a boatload of Crybaby Craigs uh plus all of uh vent line listeners too. PD10 when you go to crybabyc craigs.com PD10 to get a discount on the Crybaby Craigs. I put the stuff on everything you can find at your local grocery store. Uh but we’re going to hook up Dylan with our guy here with with a bunch of Crybaby Craigs here, which is awesome. and and and send us all your hot sauce, too. It’s it’s my big part of my day each day putting Crybaby Craigs on everything. So, go to crybabyc craigs.com or find them in your local grocery store. Yeah, we got the actually we got we made some little homemade wings here today. We got the crybaby Craigs on the counter right outside my little studio here. Uh Jeb, I I have a Jefferson take, too, but MSP plumbing, heating, and air conditioning. There’s a crisp in the air, and if your HVAC system isn’t ready, uh you might want to call these guys. I’ I’ve got an ironclad great take here, so hear me out. And that is this month. MSP Plumbing, Heating, and Air is here to ensure that your home stays warm and comfortable all season long. Trust the experts in plumbing, heating, and air. MSP, by the way, is your local Carrier dealer. They’re delivering quality and reliability. October is the perfect time to get your HVAC system checked before the cold hits. Why? Because if the cold hits and something goes wrong, it’s going to cost you a lot. This is simply an inspection to make sure that your HVAC is going as well as it can be. And when you choose Carrier, you’re investing in a system that keeps your home comfortable and saves you money on energy bills. 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The new beer this week is a micro dose Nelson single hazy IPA. So check that out and stop into one of the coolest tap rooms in the Twin Cities in the state of Minnesota, Black Stack Brewing. If there is a knock on Justin Jefferson, if there is a knock, it’s that he’s not a force in the red zone. He’s not the touchdown machine that some of his contemporaries have been at times. Jamar Chase, Devonte Adams. I’ll still take Justin Jefferson just all-en-compassing as the best receiver in the NFL the last few years. But, you know, they if you notice that play, they saw they saw Cooper sitting out there on the edge one-on-one and they lit Carson Wentz literally said, “Hey, hey, hey.” And maybe it was KO in his headset. He moved Jefferson to the left side of the line of scrimmage to the left side of the formation so that he could have that one-on-one matchup against the secondyear cornerback and he didn’t look anywhere else. He threw it right over there. Jefferson gets two hands on it and uh good job by Cooper for for knocking that ball away kind of or pulling his wrist off. But I don’t know if it makes the pie chart of blame, but like if he catches that, okay, maybe some things play out differently in that game. It’s a it is a fair micro criticism. I will give uh I will give Dylan that. Yeah. Yeah. I I don’t see it uh being in a pie chart to blame that’s going to have a huge part of the roster already. I don’t know if that one makes it. Uh but yeah. Well, and also like I don’t know when you stall in the red zone as much as they have as well. There’s just an overall frustration from my end about what you’re doing there. to your point, Jordan Mason play um where he didn’t score but on the on the what uh fourth down fourth and one was it and they decide to pass the ball instead of give him the ball like like to me to me this is partially on players for sure but it’s also play calling and it’s also who you have to run plays as well I mean Jordan Mason was signed in part to get that first down so what are we doing here but yes uh Jefferson should have had it would have been nice to see him catch that ball for sure and and he he did have it for a split second. So, uh All right, we got the If you’re just joining us here, welcome in. There’s still 5,000 people hanging out for this therapy session. Vikings lose 28-22. We are monitoring some of the postgame press conference and locker room stuff. So, uh we’ll update you on that. Jud the sports dad is at the stadium right now. Dex and I holding it down in our studios. Uh click that subscribe button and the like button if uh if you haven’t already, too. Welcome to Purple Daily. Dex, who’s next on Vikings Ventine? Yeah. Let’s go to Jacob next year. Hey, Jacob, you’re on Vikings Lime. What’s up, guys? How’s it going? You got me? Yep. All right. Yeah. Um, I thought watching the game, there was a number of different times that I thought the Viking not could like take control of the game, but they had opportunities to, you know, kind sort of take control. There’s number third and 13 I can think of. Third and 16. I mean, we had opportunities to go win football game and uh just couldn’t defense didn’t show up when we needed them there and uh yeah, but another talking point that I think I mean continues to be one, but the red zone offense like second and one and we decide we have Jordan Mason who is a known known powerback and we decide yeah it’s run the ball three time or pass the ball three times in a row. It’s just Yeah, I don’t I think it just Kevin I love Kevin Okonnell. I think he’s a great coach, but the red zone offense needs to improve somehow. I think it needs to continue to be a talking point. Yeah. No, Jacob, I I think one of the issues on at least one of those, so the sequence where they’re at the six-yd line, it’s second and one. So, you’ve that’s where you’ve got the defense by the grapefruits because they’re defending against not only the six yards for a touchdown, but they’re also defending against the one yard for the first down. And uh so I I believe on the third and one play, Wentz checked out of a run into a pass and it was noted on the broadcast too by Greg Olsen who was awesome today and he eviscerated Carson Wentz on like three different occasions. But I almost feel like in some instances if you’re Kevin Oonnell, you have to call a run and tell Carson Wentz, don’t check to the pass. Because a lot of these plays have like you call a run but there’s a there’s like a hey if the if the defense gives you this then you then you check out of it to a passing play when it’s one yard to go at the six yard line. You have Jordan Mason. Don’t check to a pass. Just run the ball. Get the first down. Lean forward. He’s going to break a tackle and then you can whatever. If you want to throw the ball now it’s first and goal from the four yardd line or something. You want to throw the ball. Okay. Throw the ball. But to just and I’m I’m nitpicking one particular drive in a sea of things that went wrong for the Vikings today, but I just, you know, you had to convert one of those four red zone field goals into a touchdown. And Kevin does the same thing as a play caller as he did in that was at the Lions game where Sam Darnold was not like his accuracy was shot. he was seeing ghosts and uh you know you didn’t have Jordan Mason at the time so it’s a little more understandable why you would get pass happy but you you did a bunch of things in March and April specifically to run the ball in those situations and you don’t and you settle for field goals instead. What are we doing? Well, this goes back to and I I bitched about this at the time when Josh Dobs was here. The longer Dobs was here, the more Kevin thinks he can run my offense and it’s like no, he still can’t run your offense, dude. which you did against the Falcons was great cuz you basically played schoolyard football. Uh but it bothers him and so he is literally like Carson Wentz and and here’s the other thing depending on what the Carson Wentz timeline was and and if he was here it sounds it sounds like he came in for a visit in March. If there was any agreement that Carson Wentz could skip training camp, shame on everybody. Brett Favre can skip your your camp if you to to not have Carson Wentz as your in train and I don’t care. The whole thing is well he would have outperformed McCarthy and everyone would have seen it. Well, first of all, he would have been getting second team reps, but second of all, he needed a full He’s not good enough to skip a training camp. He’s not good enough to parachute in. He needs to have you vet him completely. Yeah. And and so if the case was that we that Sam Howell was uh basically just a placeholder for Carson Wentz until Wentz was signed, the Vikings really screwed up there. Yeah. You know, I I will say like the the the long-term good news here, the silver lining here is if they if they would have won that game today and Wentz brings them back from down double digits, even with the mistakes, you man, now they’re 4-2 and look at the grittiness that Wentz showed at the end of the game and now it’s a short week and then and then that the possibility is alive that now you’re you win again and you’re five and two and this team is rolling and now it becomes a real real discussion point when McCarthy is 100% healthy. The silver lining longterm is all of that is gone. Now, all of it is gone. If McCarthy can play on Thursday, I think they’re going to wait another week and give him the 10 days of preparation against the Lions. But no longer is it, oh, the team is riding hot and Wentz might make a mistake or two here and there, but he can still throw for 300 yards and chunk the ball to Addison and get the ball out and all these things like that is gone now. And the only focus like to me the focus is McCarthy above team even in some cases because you’re kind of sitting here in the your schedule’s impossible u on paper. You’re last in your division right now. There’s there’s no there’s no thought that you are like a Super Bowl contender at this point in the season. And so JJ McCarthy becomes the number one priority as soon as you want him to be either Thursday or the Sunday game, first Sunday in November, right? I would think so. I would think so. But and like look, the Carson Wentz thing is unless he had balled out, right, which he clearly didn’t do. The Carson Wentz thing is is temporary. We know that. That’s what he is. He’s a temporary guy there. They clearly don’t feel comfortable enough to switch to Brosmart cuz if they had a if they had a backup that they’d like, they could have switched today. So yeah, uh they need to go to McCarthy, but that’s a whole different episode and story too on are they comfortable yet there and like what are the real what’s going on here exactly? Like do do I think it’s a soft benching? No, but he was the third quarterback today. He could have played. So So the second if he was the second quarterback to your point, that’s an actual soft bench. That’s an actual benching. My point is I think we also need to once we sort through the muk that that is what has happened with Carson Wentz then then we need to sort through what’s going on with McCarthy and where their confidence is to put him back in a game and if he’s healthy it’s it’s just it’s not good. I’m not going to lie. It’s a mess right now. It’s a mess. Dax. All right. So this guy flew in all the way from Alaska to go to the Vikings game and now he has walked all the way to Target Field. He said to see another disappointment pirate. What’s going on? How’s it going, guys? Hey, so we flew in uh what Friday morning uh got here and came. It’s her first Vikings game, at least here at US Bank Stadium. Maybe I’m the reason why we’ve lost. Uh both games I’ve come to here at US Bank. We’ve lost close ones. Chargers a couple years ago, this game this year, but uh man, it it still was a great atmosphere today in the stadium. I mean, I never felt fully out of it. Just never being able to get the the touchdowns while we got we moved down the field decently. But man, it just just kicking field goals heartbreaking. But at least we did kick field goals unlike years past all that on that. She’s like, “Wait, did did he make it?” I was like, “Welcome to being a Vikings fan.” So, isn’t that the crazy thing is like now that the Vikings have an aces kicker for the first time in a long time, all these other things are breaking around and they can’t get the quarterback right again. It’s It’s great. But appreciate you guys jumping me on. I was like, she told me to just do it. We’re here. So, uh, yeah. Thank you. School from school from Alaska Minneapolis right now, though. Love it, you guys. All right. Have fun. Have fun at Target Field. Not a lot of happening there either. One quick thing. Why do they still have Korea banners up here? Like, yeah, I was walking by. I was like, really? Like, come on. But those been up for like three months. Yeah. Do you know what it cost to take those down? That’s true. Do you know the price of taking banners down? We We know the Polads aren’t going to spend anything. So, what a poverty franchise. Keep the Koreah banners up outside the stadium. Okay, guys. Do you know what this is today? I just realized it. It was very 2007 or eight. Childress Longwell can move between the 20s, right? Can move between the 20s. Then you get inside and then and then Longwell comes in and he’s really good and he gets you the points, but you never got the points that you were supposed to get. 2007, a lot of field goals in 2007. All right, Dax, back to the Vent Lions here. Therapy in session. Yeah. Let’s go to Ryan in Colorado. Hi, Ryan. You’re on Vikings Vent. Fellas, how you doing today? Can you hear me? We got you, Ryan. Yeah, man. Heck yeah. Long time listener, first time caller. Pretty cool to be on, but most everything’s gone covered. The second and one outrageous indictment on KC, does he need an OC? I don’t know. But sad as it is to say, with all the money we spent in offseason, we’re too expensive of a roster to finish 500. Does that make us bigger traders at deadline? Uh, okay. I would say Ryan uh their their roster is no more expensive than I mean the the NFL the rosters are similarly expensive, right? There might be more cash up front for some rosters and but um but in terms of like the expectation before the season, yeah, the I think finishing 500 would be way below um everyone’s expectations. Jud, do you think what if so trade deadline’s in what I don’t know three weeks or something? Four weeks fourth after the game. after the Lions game. If you had to make a trade deadline decision right now, is there anything you would aim to do? Either way, like as far as trading away guys, I don’t think I would get enough for a guy like you can shop TJ Hawinson, but with that contract, I don’t think you’re going to get a thing back for him. Um I mean, if I was serious about trying to win, I would look for another quarterback um after today. like like there’s just I understand what Flores is doing and I get that he’s done some brilliant stuff before, but you I don’t think that you can do this. Like you are making yourself so susceptible to the pass game. Um as far as offensively I I would still like to see them go get a guy who has played center. I I really I mean poor Blake Brandle that snap today. It’s still going up. I think I think it hit the ceiling. Um that was rough. The hold was a rough call against him. I’m I’m going to side with him a little bit on that. That was a rough call. I don’t know that I like that that call and that I believe took away the Jaylen Naylor touchdown, but I would like to get a center who I feel comfortable with. I just don’t feel comfortable. And the problem is Jurgens same way. So it’s not like put Jurgens back in. I don’t really feel comfortable and I don’t think Ryan Kelly’s coming back. I don’t know if uh Phil Boon and Surls, which I’m guessing they probably will break that down, but but Olsson, right, said on the broadcast that you you basically you can’t bring him down to the ground with the shoulders, right? Is that what I think Greg Olsen was saying on on the brand? So, yeah. So, he by the way, Kevin Oonnell said uh that that seemed to be a pretty routine kind of play and he would like some clarification on that holding penalty. I’d have to look at it again, but it looked like so the defensive tackle was kind of leaning forward and Brandle like kind of pulled him down from underneath. Is that is that what happened? Yeah. And then I and I think Olsson was saying that and that’s correct. You can’t do that. So I I’m not sure if it’s it’s still ticky tack. I agree with Jud. I think like to me it looks like a football play. Like I I don’t think it looks illegal, but but they they deemed that it was there’s a that’s the thing like there’s a lot of things. I was arguing with some people about the uh the threeman rush on one of the big it was like was it the third down hitter or maybe it was the AJ Brown touchdown and Dallas Turner is just getting swallowed up by Lane Johnson on that play and at the very end of the play. So Lane Johnson wins that rep. Just you try to bull rush Lane Johnson, he just swallows you up. And at the very end of the rep, Dallas Turner kind of gets around the outside and for a brief split second, he got outside the framework of the interaction there and uh and you know, Lane Johnson’s got a little tug of the jersey, but there’s certain things like that that you watch as a fan or a media member like that’s holding he’s he’s holding him or oh, he pulled him down. But those are almost never called cuz it’s so subtle and it’s so you’re allowed to kind of grab some jersey with within the fight like in the box that you are blocking in. And if the defender gets outside of that. So if a defender’s leaning into you and you’re kind of into his shoulder pads and you pull him down a little bit that rarely gets called in the NFL by the letter of the law. Is it holding? Probably. But it’s the old cliche that’s true. you if you examined every interaction for every single play across the entire offensive line, you would not be you would just be calling holding penalty you call 50 holding penalties or more over the course of a game. So I do agree with the spirit of what Greg Olsen said, which is and Kevin Okonnell kind of felt like a standard football play that got it’s like when you’re going 58 miles an hour in a 55 and you get singled out. It’s like well really well Jud’s in the left lane blocking you, you know that that’s that’s true. Yeah. No, the problem is I’m trying to get by these morons who are blocking me as I’m trying to zip by going 80 miles an hour. I mean, I basically use 494 as the autobond. Okay, that’s how I see it. Let’s see that. Now you’re holding, Jud. Now you’re going 80 miles an hour. That’s the autobon. I am going to get home. Uh, who’s next here? Vikings lose 28 to 22 to the Philadelphia Eagles. All right, let’s go to uh is it Splash? Catch him. Yes, sir. What’s up, man? How you guys doing? You hear me? Yeah, we got you, man. Okay. Uh, well, my main premise is I want to talk about KOC a little bit, but just kind of maybe three players to kind of think about, too. Um, Carson Wentz is definitely not it. I don’t know why that was even a discussion and becoming a thing this year with JJ McCarthy. Um, Jonathan Grard has to have like lead the league in almost sacks because he always gets there. It just seems like he doesn’t take anybody down and it’s just it’s frustrating because they could be gamechanging plays. But um and the third player is Harrison Smith. Um it doesn’t seem like we’ve heard too much or even seen a lot from him this year. He’s not having an impact on the team that we’re kind of used to seeing from him. So that’s just kind of strange. But just something maybe you guys want to talk about another time. But my main thing is KOC. Um I’m just starting to notice a trend with him. And you guys spoke about it a little bit with the second and one and you’re throwing the ball which I don’t mind that fade to to JJ. That’s cool. But it’s like it’s third and one. Just run the ball. Jordan Mason has shown you that he can just run straight. That seems to be the only thing he really does. Doesn’t have the best uh vision. It’s kind of just a power back. Um makes me miss Aaron Jones a little bit um in that sense. Um but KC um it just seems like he does a lot of questionable things with his play calling at times. like he just kind of overco complicates things but also just um doesn’t seem to put his guys in the best position to kind of you know like exceed like you have Carson Wentz you know he’s kind of flustered back there and kind of freaking out and like run the ball a little bit like you’re down I know you’re down 11 but he just stops running the ball like it’s almost like he just gets away from it once he gets like behind a certain point but you guys yeah I just wanted to kind of put that out there like there’s a lot more I could talk about with KC but just those are things I noticed today specifically that he’s always done. Splash, thanks for coming on, Jud. Thanks, Splash. I think he has I think Kevin has an expectation that his quarterback has had enough time with the red pen on the Saturday and in the week uh going up to a game to execute what what he wants. And unfortunately with Wentz, it’s just very clear he can’t like I I liken this I liken WZ is a full-time version of Darnold in the Detroit game which is at some point in time when a guy starts to freak out he’s you got to help him out like just because it worked previously or just because you thought you know this should work like you can see the design of the plays that should work but guess what it doesn’t matter. So, you know, Darnold that last game in Detroit, I think, and and I saw a comment here that Darnold was lights out in the red zone, you know, where he wasn’t when you needed the game in Detroit. So, and Carson Wentz is not the quarterback that Darnold is, unfortunately. And so, we’re just sort of seeing this on a full-time ba uh basis, especially, and it’s a the hard thing to do, but it happens all the time, especially in this league. You’re playing from behind, right? You’re playing from behind. So, you have to catch up, but you have to have some patience. But the problem too is was it the Vikings penultimate drive when they ran like a 16play drive with the clock ticking like they were literally killing the clock on themselves. It’s like this is not what we want. Um and there was the Hawinson catch which was ruled not a touchdown and then it went back to uh some folks go going by with walkie-talkies. Um and and then there’s the Hawkins and catch with like I don’t know 258 left or something, right? And it’s like, okay, are you going to now kick a field goal? Because you’re going to have to have the field goal eventually. And they just continue to run the clock out. So it nobody said it’s easy, but I will say that it’s frustrating at times to watch it because like with Wentz, it’s like some of this stuff is just it very clearly is not going to work. I think there’s also there’s Carson Wentz is one of those quarterbacks that yes, he he can give you some of the big chunk upside plays. He’s he’s not just a guy that’s going to be training wheels. I mean, he’s been around long enough. There’s a reason why he was a high first round draft pick. He’s going to look like that for portions of a game. He’s also proven to be a guy in his career that if you and if my math is right, they had 48 called pass plays in this game, the Vikings, and 19 called running plays. If you’re going to give a guy like Carson Wentz 48 chances to drop back and throw the ball, you’re going to lose. At least five or six of those are going to be blue screen of death. There’s going to be two chances for a pick six. There’s going to be a couple terrible sacks. There’s going to be an intentional grounding where he’s trying to be a where or he’s going to try and be a hero on a play. So, I get that Kevin Okonnell would come back and say, “Well, we were trailing the entire game and the flow of the game dictated that we had to throw the ball.” I I think he falls into that trap. Listen, I’m like obviously the biggest Kevin Oonnell defender probably on the show here, but my biggest criticism of him is the first chance that he can bail on the run game. He does. Oh, we’re Oh, now we’re down by nine. Oh, damn. We were hoping to run the ball down their throats a little bit. It’s actually one of the 10 worst rushing defenses in the league this year, Philadelphia. But, uh, well, we’re losing in the second quarter, so therefore, we’re going to abandon the run. or if they are running the ball and it’s not resulting in big chunks on a regular basis. Like today, I think if you take away the Carson Wentz scrambles, they were like 2 and 1 half, three yards a carry over the 15 or 19 carries that they had. But I still think it’s impactful. It’s still sending a message. It is still serving a purpose and it’s opening up for maybe something bigger down the field at some point. And guess what? It eliminates the chance of your quarterback throwing a dumb interception or throwing a ball backwards for 10 yards and setting you up in a second and 25. So again, like before the game started, if you were to sit down with Kevin Oonnell and say, “Hey, uh, if you call 48 passes for Carson Wentz, do you think the outcome is going to be good at the end of that game?” I would hope he would agree with no being the answer, but there’s half a chance he might say, “Well, if he runs those plays the way I want him to.” Yeah, but dude, these aren’t you’re not dealing with top seven, top eight quarterbacks in the league here. You’re not you’re not this isn’t this isn’t Patrick Mahomes. It’s not even a Jared Goff. That is too many called passes in a close game to avoid catastrophic error by this quarterback. And the funniest thing is the actual predictor, if you just saw the stats without the score, the actual predictor of this loss based on our our uh preseason conversations would have been if I had given you the final stats and said did they win or lose, you would have said that defense was awful. Well, and it turned out to be awful, right? Like the passing defense, that’s one of the worst. But what I’m saying, but what I am saying is based on our preseason cut conversations, we were basically with McCarthy saying, “You need to be good enough to get some points, but but this defense has to be lights out.” And in the second half, they just folded. So like again, that’s why I’m Everyone gets blamed for this. Everyone gets blamed because your defense, like you could have snuck out one of the uglier victories in the Okonnell era if your defense hadn’t just completely crapped the bed in the second half. All right, back to the van lines here. Dex, who do we got next? Yeah, let’s go to uh Scott next here. Hey, Scott, you run up you got me. Yeah, man. Um, so I’ll go through some of my points I had written down, but uh you hit on a lot of them. Those, like you said, the second and one, third and one, why are you not running the ball? The second and one. Okay, I get throw it up to JJ. Let him try to make a play. I watched the Bengals Steelers game on Thursday. JJ and Jets are I should say Jets and Chase are two entirely different receivers. J Chase is bigger. He’s stronger. Justin gets out muscled a lot of the time, especially on those 50. He’s not a throw it up in the corner to him guy. He needs to be in space and make plays after. But um what was the next point? Uh the backup quarterback like Jud said if that if that truly was like, “Oh, Carson, we’ll we got your number in case we need you.” If Sam Howell sucks, which I don’t know why you wouldn’t think Sam Howell sucks. Sorry guys, I’m fired up today. I’ve been his all week. The McCarthy thing is infuriating me. Get his ass, if I can say that, out on the field and play him. I don’t care if he’s not 100 100%. You guys know I’m from Chicago. This gives me Derek Rose flashbacks of my I just don’t trust my body. I just I’m not 100%. I can’t get out there. The doctors have cleared me, but I can’t get out there. You need to play. You’re a football player. You think the other 53 guys on the roster have injuries that they’re fighting through? They’re out there. Yeah. I I feel like you’re just to stop you for a second. I feel like you’re ranting at McCarthy. I think if if it was McCarthy’s decision, he would have played two weeks ago. No, I’m not. I just It feels like that type of scenario to me of like he has to be 100%. If he’s 99%, he can’t be out there. Like I I heard JJ say, “I want to play.” Then you got to get him out there. Carson Wentz blows. I’m sorry. I’ve watched that guy for three hours today infuriate me. His accuracy. The the pass to Hawinson. TJ was wide open and he has to try to make a diving stab at it. The one to Addison like you guys were talking about, he could have walked in and the pass is five yards behind him. It’s infuriating. And then the next guy that I want to get on, Dallas Turner is terrible. I You did not trade second and third round picks for a guy to set the edge well and get some pressures. Did anybody watch the Jacksonville Rams game this morning? Verse is a monster. He’s always at the quarterback and he always takes him down. Like you said, Phil, that play with Lane Johnson. Johnson looked like a 15-year-old doing an 8-year-old saying, “Try to get there. Try to get there.” Nope. Can’t do it. Can’t do it. No. And of course, and Scott, thank you. I love Scott bringing the passion here. That’s great. Of course. Well, well, I mean, Lane Johnson’s like a Hall of Fame right tackle. Okay. And Dallas Turner did get around for kind of a second wave sack in the game, and that was great. But you didn’t you didn’t draft him to be just kind of like a a pretty good edge setting uh edge rusher who can maybe be pretty good in the running. Like you you drafted him in part to wreak havoc on opposing quarterbacks and y he hasn’t he hasn’t done that yet. It’s a it’s a it’s a fair thing to point out. Doesn’t mean that his career is destined to officially be a bust, but um yeah, it’s a thing at this point a year and a half in. It’s fair to ask for more. I think that that’s uh I I think that’s a fair assessment and I know a lot of you are going to get very mad. You’re going to send me tweets. You’re going to get very angry, but I think it’s fair to ask for more. It is. I mean, I don’t think that’s I don’t I don’t think that that is overstepping the boundaries of baller guy. I don’t know, man. Twitter Twitter was was raging. I I saw other quote I I even saw other quote tweets of people like absolut and by the way I don’t agree I agree with I I stand with us on this on our takes on this you have you don’t you don’t make that trade and also when Van Ginkle is out which he’s been out there’s now an opportunity for him to feast and he is not necessarily feasting he’s nibbling he is dipping at the appetizers like go get the platter go get the food man he’s at the party he’s not terrible but but when Jared Verse is doing exactly what Scott said every time you flip on the Rams It’s like, oh my god, Jared Verse is making a quarterback urinate himself. You know, you’re going to be compared to where you were drafted and you’re not a fourth round pick. You’re you’re a first round pick that was that that a team traded up for a few times. So, it’s it’s a conversation. It’s a conversation. But, by the way, on the defensive side of the ball, we probably should mention that Ivan Pace has now been supplanted by Eric Wilson, who was starting for Blake Cashman. Blake Cashman came back and Ivan Pace was the odd man out for the first time, I think, in a long time. Yeah, he was. So, I think this is the first time since he was since he made the team as an undrafted free agent three years ago that he was just exclusively a special teams player. So, you know, Cashman came back and like, okay, are they going to is Eric Wilson going to go back to being No, the Eric Wilson and and Blake Cashman got all the run and Ivan Pace, from what I can see here, 17 players logged at least one defensive snap in this one, including Elijah Williams, Tyler Baddy, who they Tyler Baddy, they had him sideways on the uh tush push defense, which we can talk about, and Bo Richter got a couple snaps in there, but I don’t believe Ivan Pace logged a non-special team snap today, which is a big personnel change on that defense. Uh before we get to a couple things Kevin Oonnell is saying at the podium and uh more Vikings fans here on Purple Daily Vikings vent line, uh SeatGeek, if you’re interested in tickets to an upcoming Vikings game or other sporting events, SeatGeek is a great place to start, Dex. Yeah, SeatGeek is a great place to start. If you’re looking to get in at at one of the best NFL stadiums, obviously, uh if heck, if you’re if you’re trapped, you want to follow the Vikings, you can you can do that. Go to SeatGeek. 10% off any tickets with promo code purple 10. It’s on the app store. It’s on the Google Play Store. So, if if you’re looking for a a Vikings game, if you’re looking for just a concert, heck, there’s some great shows coming uh to the Twin Cities this this uh next week week or two. So, uh go to SeatGeek, use promo code purple 10 for 10% off any tickets from our friends at SeatGeek. Uh North American Banking Company is here to provide a better banking experience for the Purple Daily audience. Founded in 1998, a Minnesota based bank now with six locations across the Twin Cities. And in a world where it feels like things are getting less personal and more automated, your banking experience doesn’t have to feel that way. Uh if you’d like a banking company that’s local, that specializes in personal relationships and cutting edge online tools to highlight the safety and security of your accounts, let me recommend North American Banking Company. They’ll make it really easy to make the transition and it could be a game-changing experience for you and your family. So go to go to nabankcco.com/mackie to learn more. That’s nabankcco.com/mackie member FDIC equal housing lender. And uh both Dex and I in the last 6 months or so have used uh two men in a truck uh to great the light. Dex, a great moving company. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t don’t have to worry about hiring your friends or figuring out when I can move in or who can help me move in, move out. It’s a very stressful time to move. Uh I’ve done it a lot now. Hopefully I I’m cemented in my house here for for the time being. But when you’re moving, it’s stressful. And let the experts handle it at Two Men in a Truck. They have all sorts of different size trucks. They they will make sure that move can happen for you. They’ll send you over a spreadsheet what needs to be moved, what needs to get out of that house safely and appropriately. Uh what they quote to is what you pay. There’s none of those weird hidden service fees uh in the back end there. So go to twoman.com. Tell them that Purple Daily sent you. Okay. Kevin Oonnell was asked by Kevin Seaffort from ESPN.com. I think Kevin asked this question. I It’s Kevin’s tweet, but asked how he will weigh the quarterback position on a short week. Kevin Oonnell says he wants to see how Carson Wentz comes out of this game. I think health-wise, he was wincing at the shoulder throughout the game. Got took a lot of hits. That last or the second to last run by Wentz, he got smoked, I think, on the shoulder. that’s already hurt. He got him. He was like, “All right.” Wentz took a lot of hits today, especially in the fourth quarter. No hints of a quarterback change yet. Just Kevin Okonnell was not ready to confirm anything. So, um the Vikings are going to obviously a short practice week. And then they travel. So, they they miss out if there there’s like walkthrough time that you would probably get a little extra as a home team. You’re traveling on Wednesday for this game. So, all right, back to the vent lines here, Dex. Who’s next? Yeah. Let’s go to Devin next here. Hey Devin, what’s up man? You are on Vikings vent line. We’re switching from headphones over to over to the earbuds. Oh, we’re going earbuds here. Earbuds. That’s all good. Things are getting serious. All right. All right, guys. Can you hear me? You got me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Here we go. I have receipts. I have stats. And I have a few points. All right. Let’s do it. So, I I am tired of the Dallas Turner slander. I’m tired of the JJ McCarthy slander. I am tired of the um JJ McCarthy verse uh Carson Wentz thing. JJ McCarthy is miles better than Carson Wentz is. And Dallas Turner is also not doing bad according to Pro Football Focus. He is top 50 in the league right now for um for pressures. And how many times does Jared Burst drop back in coverage dur during during games? Not very often. He strictly rushes to pass most of the time. Correct. Right. Dallas Turner drops back into coverage a lot of the time. He he basically has been playing that Andrew Vaninkle role since he has been out. He drops back into coverage. He does a bunch of things for our defense that go unnoticed. People are looking at strictly statistics based on sacks. That is all what people are looking at. Does he need to pro get more sacks? Yeah, absolutely. That is his one of his jobs, one of his jobs, but he has been doing great in pass coverage and doing other things. Another thing, Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy are two of the youngest players in that draft class. You you look at Drake May 20 23 years old. Jaden Daniels 24. Caleb Williams 23. Michael Pennock’s 25. And Bo Nicks is also 25. JJ McCarthy is 22 years old. JJ McCarthy is a year younger than I am. Dallas Turner is a year younger than I am as well. I’m I’m 23. Can we give these guys some time to develop and actually get older? But the problem is this. Like this this show by no means has called JJ a bust. He’s played two games. Yeah. It’s not been great. He hasn’t gotten on the field, though. That’s That’s the key talking point. I I don’t care if he’s 12. I’d love to give him time. I want to see him play. If you drafted him as a preubescent cuz he was so good and he can’t play, he’s useless to me. So, so he rightfully there there is a major major concern. Forget the game. There is a major concern about can you stay healthy to play. Like that’s a non-debatable topic. So like this is not a oh he sucks, he’s no good. Yeah, it’s been tough. It’s been two games. We’ve we’ve hammered that home. And if you are calling him a bust now because of that, look, then you would have given up on a lot of quarterbacks in the history of this league who turned out to be successful. But I don’t care if he’s 52, 22, or 11 years old. He has to be able to play. And so far, he can’t. Like, that’s not a debatable topic. I I agree. And I’m I was more talking about the fans. I know you guys have been very fair to Dallas Turner and JJ McCarthy, and so is uh like Thor, like all those guys. I I’ve I’m I’m more so talking about fans that I’ve heard come on vent line and come on, you know, just on Twitter and stuff, not more so. And my other point, can we fire Matt Daniels? Matt Daniels is one of the worst special teams coordinators of all time. The past two seasons, the Vikings have have been 31st in kick return average, 32nd in punt return average, 26th in net punt per net punt yards per punt. We we are we have an 83 field goal percentage. That’s more so based on kickers, but you know, I’m Will Reker’s fine, Depal is fine, and Ryan Wright’s fine. Those those three guys are fine. We are the sixth most penalized special teams unit, and we are the 10th most penalty yards like against us. We We’re the 10th ranked team. Matt Daniels is an awful special teams coordinator. I will stand on that hill and I will die on that hill. And yeah, that that that man should not be employed by the Minnesota Vikings from here on. Deon Devin bringing the heat here. Appreciate you coming on with the stats and the facts. Uh wasn’t didn’t we go over some there was some metric like special teams uh expected points added above below average and a lot of the and the Vikings were not very good but like all that entire tree it’s like Shanahan McVey it’s a bunch of guys from that tree that are just bad special teams teams. Mhm. They only focus on their uh their elaborate offensive schemes apparently. I don’t disagree with his take, but I will say this. Uh, and and this is not to Daniel’s credit, but the fact that you have found a kicker who seems to be, unless he’s hurt, able to make kicks buys you buys the Vikings, not Daniels, a lot of grace because you do have a guy I I mean, Blake Brandle snapped the ball to the moon today and they still attempted a field goal and they made the field goal. Yeah. So, I Yes. Yes. There’s frustrating things about special teams. Um, but I but I think that you have solved problems and as long as you don’t fumble punts as well. That’s a good start for me. But yes, it could be better. There’s no question about it. That I don’t disagree. And I quite frankly I’m tired of Dallas Turner. I’m tired like we’ve talked about it. I’m I’m done. Look, until you tired of him or the discussion about No, I’m No, no, no. tired of talking about I feel like I feel like we are litigating the man’s career as if he is some huge bust and they traded up to get him and they gave up a lot and I think there’s an expectation there and and it’s sort of this weird D’Angelo Russell-like cult of people who are like you don’t understand it’s like yeah I do it’s Dallas Turner and let’s not compare a 22-year-old quarterback okay a quarterback to an edge rusher like an edge rusher at 22 you can step in and you can do it right away no problem that is true yes I I have a hard time with the NFL age thing because like in in baseball when you draft a prep kid out of high school and now like kids are getting accelerated and and they’re they’re they’re getting the show quicker, but like it’s different when you draft a fresh 18-year-old versus a 22-year-old who would have played four years of college baseball where like the the age development thing does kind of work for you of hey be patient with this. If you’re a top 10 pick in the NFL draft and you’re 25 or you know what was Brandon wasn’t Brandon Weeden like 28 years old when he got drafted by the Browns? Like I don’t I don’t really care what age you are when you’re drafted that high in the NFL. The expectation is unfortunately. You do kind of have to perform pretty dang quickly and have be also be available to play. So I I I don’t think we can necessarily use the age thing of give him times he’s only 22 instead of 25 years old. Yeah. I on the I mean we they’re they’re different discussions alto together because McCarthy’s played two games and Dallas Turner’s played a year and a half. uh limited last year because they they weren’t ready to trust him on that level and they had Grenard and Van Giggle. I do want to highlight something from uh that was brought up like a few minutes ago that he was like he’s like top 50 in pressures or whatever. Let’s put some context around that for a second. And I also am not I’m not writing off his career. I I don’t think he’s been bad. But again, you comp you compare and an edge rusher they can step if you’re 22 or 24 you step in. You can perform as an edge rusher. there’s certain defensive positions that or a left guard like you can hit the ground running in the NFL and so if we just isolate edge rushers in the NFL this year which Dallas Turner is he’s an edge rusher that they do drop back into coverage about 20 to 25% of pass plays so that’s but if you go on a percentage basis pass rush productivity or pass rush win rate per snap right there’s 113 qualified edge rushers in the NFL this year 113 13. Dallas Turner 40th in pass rush productivity. So, you know, up above league average, but uh up in the top six are two dudes from his draft class in the first round. Liatu Lu and Jared Verse are both top six, top nine in the NFL in pass rush win rate and pass rush productivity. So, it’s fair to say that like of of a couple other guys that are just instantly awesome as edge rushers, maybe they’re a year or two older or whatever, the Vikings are the Vikings didn’t draft him to be like pretty good dropping back into coverage and a guy who can set the edge a little bit. You can find though they had guys like that on the roster last year, right? So, at some point he needs to terrorize quarterbacks. It hasn’t happened yet. Not I’m not saying it can’t ever happen, but it’s worth noting that it hasn’t happened yet. It’s been a year and a half and it hasn’t happened yet. All right, who do we got next? Vikings vent line. Yeah. Let’s go to our guy Corey from Iowa. What’s up, Corey? What’s going on, guys? What’s going on? What’s going on? How we doing today? What’s up, Cory? Hey, man. All right. All right. Just watch that pitiful game we just watched all together. Um, got a few points. Um, it was bad all the way around. Um, I’m gonna put a lot of this on I’m not going to even talk about Carson much. We already know what he is. We already know what’s going on there. We know the situation. Um, I’m putting this more on coaching Declan, we might have a coaching problem. And here’s the reason why. You cannot be in the red zone this many times. And the same stuff you did last year in the Lions game, the same thing you did with the Rams, you go out, you get one of the better rush running backs and Jordan Mason for that reason. You get in the red zone this many times. And this is why I say we got a coaching problem because we have two egotistical coaches are stubborn, will not change their ways, will not change mid game. It is we get to the red zone, let’s throw it. Why are we throwing the ball? Jordan Mason got us all the way down the field, scored a touchdown. Okay, next series they get offensive. Why is Scott in the game? Put Jordan Mason back in the game. Why would you change it when he’s running like that? Did didn’t that come after also a lengthy timeout on the field because of an injury that Scott stayed in in the game for a while and it’s like you just had a huge timeout like you had plenty of time to rest. Yeah. Rest him. Put him right back in the game and I understand what they’re what they’re like what they were trying to do. Okay, we’re going to shut down Saquon Jaylen. You know what what happens and what the guys say earlier uh talking everybody makes these historical things happen when they play us. Jordan, Jaylen Herz, you know, on that last series they’re going they’re going to Brown. They know they’re throwing the ball. It’s third and whatever whatever it is. You know, you’re go. How does they get burned that bad? There was so many times Devonte Smith was wide open in the middle of the field. You have four people around them and no one I mean people are like eight, nine yards away from them. Mhm. It’s they will not they will not change. They were not. They They’re stubborn in this and it’s going to be a problem down the road. And one other thing with the whole JJ McCarthy thing. I don’t I’m not buying the whole ankle thing anymore. We’re We’re way past too many weeks with this. This is what I’m thinking. He’s not ready. He’s not ready. And they’re making excuse after excuse after excuse for this young man not to play. I understand he’s 22, but when you pick number 10, like you said before, Declan, you have to you have to do something. I don’t think they look at him as a long-term quarterback. They’re looking at him when you’re developing your footwork in week six because you missed a couple weeks. That’s a problem. I don’t care what you what you’re doing. I don’t think McCarthy really or not McCarthy, KC, if you look at it, really wanted McCarthy. I think he wanted Pennix and they got surprised when the Falcons moved up, picked him, and now they stuck with McCarthy because they didn’t want to go with Knicks. You messed up, I think, with uh Quy because you had an opportunity to go ahead and keep Darnold. Understand Darnold had the two bad games, but we would not be in the position we’re in right now with this because yes, we we were lacking on other positions we needed money for. Understandable. Really, to this point, them other picks we picked are not really doing nothing for us. Our center’s out. We may not even play him again. So, now in creative, we got to try and get a a center. Randle, he was decent, but he’s not going to be he’s not your long-term answer. Um, I think really either you put McCarthy in on on Thursday, you see what happens after this and it is what it is. I know you’re going to waste a year doing it, but you know what? This is you. It’s It’s very hard because you’re not a team that’s developing. You’re a team that’s ready to win now. That’s what’s making it so hard is because you’re a team that’s ready to win right now and you can’t. It’s like, oh, we we can stick with Wentz, but oh, we got McCarthy and we got to play him and when are we going to see him, but they keep make, well, we’ll see if he’s 100%. Nobody’s 100% at this time. No one is 100%. No rookie, no veteran, nobody’s 100%. And you’re looking at all these other rookies and all these other young players around the league right now are flourishing. They’re getting the game is slowing more down for them. Yet we got a quarterback that’s only played eight quarters. One quarter’s been good and historically been terrible the other seven games and we’re going to say, “Oh, but we’re still we’re still rooting for McCarthy.” Win. Just put him in the game. There’s never going to be a good game to put him in. There’s never going to be a good game. We’re running a gauntlet right now and now we’re the last in the division. The Bears are developing really fast and everybody else is developing, but yet we’re in this stuck spot with a team that’s probably the best team in the division on paper, but yet we’re stuck at this quarterback position yet again when we could have had it solved last year. I understand what we lost, when we could have gained, but it’s I don’t think that they wanted McCarthy. I I’m not buying the whole ankle thing anymore at this point in this point of the season. We’re after the buy. We’re doing this. When we going to play him, when we’re going to see him, the Lions game, the line, put him in Thursday, see what happens. And KC either you dumb the playbook down for him because you can’t you can’t go with these long distance. Uh we want the ball down the field, down the field, down the field. He’s not ready for that. We all know that by now. He’s not ready for them developing plays down the field. It’s too fast for him right now. So quick passes, run the ball, run the ball with Mason. Do you have a workhorse? Use him. But dead on, guys. No, we we love Dude, keep keep jumping on. You’re one of our favorite guests on Vikings Vently. We love ourselves from Corey from Iowa. Jud, just let’s let’s take a minute to respond to some of those comments. All right, so first of all, I don’t think that they want to play WZ like like I I don’t think that that we’re at at a point now where they’re dying to play Wentz and that they think I I said this if he had balled out then yes, it would be hard. what they’re concerned about. And look, if JJ McCarthy was a veteran quarterback with a background of success, okay, and he had a high ankle sprain, he starts today. There’s no question in my mind. Like, if he can be the third QB, he he could have played. But what they’re concerned about is they’re concerned that he had two games that for the most part were rough, that his ankle is not completely there yet. And so they are literally trying to buy him and themselves time because they know that if they put him back in and it goes sideways and he fails, they’re going to basically take his confidence if it’s, you know, on a scale of 1 to 10, if it’s at like a five now, they’re going to take it down to a one. So like like this is a very I feel like we’re trying to make this too simple. Now, first of all, could they have made a mistake on McCarthy? Absolutely. I can’t tell you that they did not. I can tell you he can’t play. Could they have wanted pennics over McCarthy and got surprised? Like Cory said, I do think that’s possible. Yes, but I think the NFL is filled with conspiracies and people that lie and don’t tell us the truth. Okay, I don’t think this one’s hard to figure out. Now, you might object to it, and I totally get get that. And yes, J.J. McCarthy could have played if he was a veteran, but the reality is I think that they are and for Okonnell to come out and talk about the footwork thing, which yes, has to do with the injury a little bit, but it also has to do with his footwork period. for Okonnell to talk about that. I thought it was sort of and heck for Okonnell to be annoyed last week. I think it’s sort of an open book, guys. Like I I don’t think that there’s something at work here dastardly, right, where it’s like, “Oh, you guys, I know what you’re doing. You’re writing him off right now.” I think they literally want to put him back in when they think that he can succeed because if they don’t, they’re going to have a quarterback who’s 22, as has been pointed out several times in the show, with shot confidence. And and look, is this ideal? Absolutely not. Here’s here’s where here’s my personal conspiracy though on where they got caught with their pants down. I don’t think it was Darnold. I think where they got caught with their pants down was on Daniel Jones. I think they thought he’d stay here and and right now he’d be playing and look if he’s playing like he’s playing for the Colts right now, JJ McCarthy is a backup again. But I think they thought that they were going to keep Jones. I think they thought they did him a favor and that he would stick around and that he would have a chance to play. and he said, “I think I can,” and he was right, “Go beat out the guy with the Colts as opposed to to McCarthy.” So, if there’s any like place where I think that this went arai, I think it was more Daniel Jones than Darnold. Yeah. Um, yeah, I I agree. I think they were I think they were caught way off guard uh on the Daniel Jones front. I have a a bunch of thoughts, too, but I’ll sprinkle them in later in the show andor tomorrow because we have a ton of real estate here and a bunch more fans to get to. Uh, Dex, who’s next on Vikings Meline? Yeah, let’s go to Peter next year. Hey, Peter. What’s up, man? You’re on Vikings Vent Line. Hey, long time, guys. Can you hear me? All right. Yes. Yeah, we got you, Peter. Mhm. Excellent. Uh, perfect timing, Dex. Shout out, Dex. Uh, new dad. My My kids just walked in the door. So, perfect timing. That’s a a new life lesson for you to learn that all your plans you can just count on uh throwing them out the window as as soon as you’re working behind the scenes to get in on something like this. But, uh, here they are. They’ll probably be popping in. Uh, that’s all good. Yeah. Yeah. All good. So, congrats Dex. Um, Mackie, I’m watching. Uh, I see Cardinals are up 63 on the Packers and we got um Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma. Wow. Because it’s the Packers and the Cardinals on Fox. Are they playing in Green Bay or No, they’re in Arizona for that game. Yeah, I think they’re in Arizona. You know, wherever Kenny Albert needs to be, you know, that’s that’s where they are. But shout out to you. I love the imitation. Keep doing it. Don’t take any hate over that. It’s awesome. All right. There’s nothing better. It keeps me going. Nothing better than a noon Lions game with with Kenny Albert. Um and and Sports Dad for you. You kind of sniped me on this one. I had I was I had my notebook out. Um I I was noticing throughout the game like I don’t see zero out there. Where’s zero? There’s no zero. Where is zero? So, is this is this like did he get benched for something beyond play on the field? Cuz he’d be on special teams, wouldn’t he? I mean, he’s he’s like he did. Oh, yeah. He Oh, yeah. He was out there on special teams. Yeah. I didn’t see him on special teams. He’s just he’s just been like for performance reasons, he’s just been promoted teams. I think what’s happened is he he he had a nice little run there as a UDFA. He was he’s been a regular fixture on this defense for the last two and a half years. Um, but I think he’s he’s so susceptible in coverage and sizewise going even going like, you know, sideline to sideline. There’s reasons why he wasn’t drafted and the Vikings did a great job tapping into what he does well, but it feels like opposing teams have put him in some spots coverage-wise and now they have Eric Wilson. So, it’s like, all right, they just have a better they have better talent at that position that can supplant him at this point. Yeah, per uh PFF going into this game, Ivan Pace had had 10 missed tackles this season, tied for most among linebackers in the league. So there you go. So benching got to be able to tackle. Yeah. Uh I saw they also benched Brand Brle uh I think at halftime. I think they just flat out benched him. Jurgens was in. No, he Yes. Um so during the course of the drive that was the drive out out of the gate that had a lot of good runs by Mason. Uh Brandle came out with like four plays left and was replaced by Jurgens for like the rest of that drive and then Brle came back. So something I I think he must have got dinged up. Two plays. It was two plays. He came right back. I know sports dad’s on this. I’m just fact checking here. And then I had Acres. Was Acres inactive or was he just not playing today? I just He could throw a touchdown pass last game but he he can’t get on the field today. Yeah. I mean, he only got on the field for one snap last time and it was, you know, very fruitful and productive. There’s my daughter. Yep. It’s your future, Dean. That is There it is. Yeah. I’ll stay as long as you guys want to keep me. I got I got a couple. Well, we got to run to some other guests. We appreciate you and the fam jumping in here. Uh, showing Let me give you one more take, Mackie. Let me give you one more take. All right. Okay. I got you. When you watch the first half, though, I I learned two things watching the first half. One was uh the a tale of two quarterbacks, right? Carson Wentz looked like he didn’t have it today. And I’m not a genius, but I knew he didn’t have it today. He was missing things. It wasn’t open. He looked like he was hitting the panic button. The moment was too big. And Jaylen Herz opposite, right? Like I’ve seen him do that earlier in the season, but he was locked in when he needed to. You know, he wasn’t being asked to do too much, but he was hitting his receivers when they were wide open. Okay? He wasn’t making him make diving catches. Like Addison had to dive every time the ball was thrown near him and Hawinson, everyone was diving for the ball. All right. But like, so I would have gone to halftime and I would have learned two things offensively as as Kevin Oonnell. I would have learned my quarterback is not it. I got to run the ball. And and and it’s okay. Like at one point it was it was 21 to9 and we had just scored a touchdown by running the ball and we made it 2116. Like we could it was the third quarter. We could keep running. Yeah, we could do that. We didn’t need Carson. And on defense we could blitz a quarterback who if we’re sitting back soft letting him throw all over us who’s eating today like today that’s not going to work. We got to blitz. I will say the touchdown pass to Smith guys that touchdown pass though Jaylen Herz was the line of scrimmage was the 21 and I believe when I slowed it down to replay that ball was caught at the Vikings 29 so 21 yd line of Philadelphia I mean that was a gorgeous pass which one was that the the long touchdown that Smith the yeah to Smith in the third quarter. So he he had he had the touchdown pass to AJ Brown in the first half which was a nice throw too but it was to open the open the second half. Yeah. Yes. But that that ball carry I mean that’s a hell of a pass. That play by the way according to a friend of the show Nate Ty. So one of the criticisms of the Eagles offense had been their predictability that if they’re under center they’re I think it was if they’re under center they’re not going to run you can they’re not going to run play action. They were like really aggressively 71% of the time or something. pass. So that was only the seventh under center playaction pass from the Eagles all season. Big- time tendency breaker for them. The other six under center play actions on the season gained 2 yards 0g1 7 and one. So they had not hit on really like any kind of productive under center play action pass the entire season until that whatever it wound up being like 70 yard touchdown to Dvonte Smith. I feel like tendency breaker is an underrated football term. It really is a tendenc cuz cuz it like translates to life too. Yeah. Like my wife didn’t expect that tendency breaker. My tendency uh if if they would have won the game would have been to have a celebratory sip of Pendleton whiskey here. Whiskey. Whiskey. Whiskey. But instead, it’s going to have to be a sip for therapeutic reasons, I guess. I don’t know. But uh yeah, Pendleton Whiskey celebrating uh here the 2025 Vikings limited edition 10-year stadium anniversary blend and bottle here. It’s not just poured, it’s earned at Pendleton Whiskey. And in Minnesota, nothing’s given. Not the yards, not the winds, not the respect, you earn it. And it’s the same spears behind Pendleton Whiskey, uh, which is a proud partner of the Minnesota Vikings. So, when the clock hits zero, whether you’re celebrating a well- earned victory or uh holding your head high or maybe hanging it in mild shame after a hard-fought loss, there’s only one whiskey for the moment, and it is this official partner of the Minnesota Vikings, Pendleton Whiskey. It’s not just poured, it’s earned. 2025 Pendleton Distillers, proximosspirits.com. Please drink responsibly. Uh underdog buzzing this afternoon here, Dax. Yeah, it’s been it’s been a great month. You know, we used to celebrate Kirktober. It’s now it’s been Boosttober at Underdog. That’s the new thing we we celebrate at Underdog. Boosttober. You probably have noticed some boosts in those lobbies for you. So, if you already been a user, hope you’ve been taking advantage of it. And you still have plenty of days left here in October to get in on it. So, sign up at underdog promo code score. When you play your first five bucks, you’ll get $100 in bonus funds to get in on all the different type of picks, whether that’s longest receptions, which if you’re an Eagles fan, you probably rode higher on that day and hit. Uh so, so ride higher, ride lower. Uh go to underdog and uh sign up promo code score, play your first five bucks and get a $100 in bonus funds. Uh Jud, also the Canopy Group is helping to power this Vikings vent line therapy session today on Purple Daily. Most definitely. You know why? is the Canopy Group. We’re talking about an instatebased independent insurance company that has your best interest in mind. You know, much like that awardwinning GM goes out constantly on the lookout for the best talent available. The Canopy Group does the same for you when it comes to getting the best insurance coverage at the best price. What they’re doing is they work with 16 groups of top tier companies to make sure you have the best insurance roster available for auto, home, health, and business. And at the time that you are set to renew, guess what? You’re going to hear from the Canopy Group because they know that you deserve often better than the status quo. So give them a call 1 8009673389 800 9673389 or check out their website the canopygroup.com. That’s the canopyroup.com. All right, let’s go back to the vent lines here on Purple Daily. Click that subscribe button and the like button if you are new to the Purple Daily YouTube channel. Who’s next? Dean. All right. Uh Kyle’s like trimming a orange. I saw a knife. I was really worried about what was happening, but I think he’s just cutting up an old. I was just uh making an old fashioned. I was going to say an old fashioned maybe. Let’s go. How are you guys doing? Good, man. First off, Declan, congratulations as the father of coming too soon. I know know the struggles. So, absolutely. Um, first off, kind of what I mentioned, even though I know you guys touched on it, aside from Carson Wentz, aside from the half a dozen calls that should have been holding that were now holding, but that’s that’s just football. TJ Hawinson is done. He is garbage. He is the seventh, arguably the seventh best tight end in our division. I would take the two tight ends from Chicago, two from Green Bay, obviously Samora, and then you obviously got Oliver, which is, you know, they’re probably about the same, but you’re paying the dude top five tight end. We just looked at his cap number for next year. It’s it’s spicy, but he’s probably only what, top 25. He never came back from the ACL. Just like him and Kyle Pittz, man. You draft him every year in fantasy thinking this is the year that you’re going to pop. This is the year they become the best tight end and you get disappointed every time. Appreciate you guys touching base on it, but I think it’s I think father time has caught him and it never really started to begin with. So no, Kyle, cheers to you, man. Thanks for coming on here. Enjoy that old fashioned delicious. I think the problem I think the problem is his knee got blown up and he ain’t coming back from it. like like he came back what in October or November of last year, right? And it was sort of a slow uh a slow drag a little bit and you’re like, “Okay, he’s going to have a training camp now. He’s going to have a year.” But I mean, just watch the man run. He he looks like he’s 50. It’s Yeah, it’s plotting. And he’s never he’s never been a burner for a tight end, right? There’s some guys out there that can scoot, but he looks painful. his so he signed that contract that technically runs through 2027 and it made him one of the highest paid tight ends in the NFL at the time. Um the the good news is if you are looking to get out from underneath that contract it becomes a lot easier after this year. So, he has no guaranteed money left after 2025, I believe, according to overthecap.com. If they were to say so, he has a $21 million cap hit, which would be one of the six or seven highest on the team. You would uh you would have to eat like $12 million in dead cap, but you’d save 9 million and they need to get like 40 or 50 million off the books to be cap compliant. So, and you know, he caught a handful of passes today. Obviously, if that 50/50 ruling in the end zone goes a little bit differently, okay, his game looks a little bit but it didn’t. Uh it was kind of a bad pass, too. So, I can’t blame him too much for that. But he is averaging under eight yards per reception, which is awful. And it’s not just schematics. That’s lack of yards after the catch. He’s not the same guy. He’s not the same guy physically. That that’s a that’s a fair assessment at this point. All right, Declan, back to Vent Line here. Yeah. Let’s go to Ben next year. Ben, where are you? Hey, I’m in uh Tamarindo, Costa Rica at Sharkies. How are you guys doing? Are you Is there like a Vikings bar or just like an NFL bar? Well, this is my bar. I kind of I think Okay, we lost We lost Ben’s audio. Oh, it’s back. It’s back. It’s back. Can you hear me? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We got you. All right. Sorry. I’m trying to stay out of the madness because, you know, we’re uh in the middle of games and all that. Can you guys hear me? Yeah, we got you. Go ahead. Go ahead. Okay, cool. So, um first of all, love everything you guys do. I mean, I’m here in Costa Rica running a bar trying to show uh Green Bay Packers fans a terrible time as much as humanly possible. And uh you know, I have my shirt here. Seven bad quarters out of eight bucks. Wow. You’re out. You’re out already. No, this is the shirt I want to wear so every single hater understands what they were saying when we finally have the ball to play our quarterback franchise Super Bowlinning JJ McCarthy. But unfortunately right now, just because he has a little boo boo, we don’t want to play. I love Kevin O’Connell. Love him. But I am tired of the managing the perfect situation. We are not playing JJ McCarthy through the pain and suffering like Caleb Williams had last year. How is he going to learn? How is he going to grow? And how is he going to understand that everyone can stop saying this? Wow, dude. Ben checking in. Thanks for coming on his bar in Costa Rica. That bar must be raking in the dough on Sundays. Hopping there. Good for you, Ben. That’s awesome. Um, yeah. I mean, I So, one of the themes of the show here from the comments and from a bunch of different guests on Bent Line is that they should not be dragging their feet on putting McCarthy in. That they made a mistake not starting him today essentially out of uh the by-week. I I I I tend to believe the reporting and what McCarthy said himself that it was up to a six week timeline and we’re sitting at like week four, week five. I don’t know that there’s any urg if you feel like he’s less than 100% and lacking practice and general experience and he’s young. If all those things are true, I don’t I don’t see the benefit in rushing him back. But if but if they if this continues on throughout like the Lions game and now we’re like into November and it’s clearly less about the ankle and more about they just they just don’t think he’s good enough or ready enough or mechanics. I I think it’s a deeper conversation about his ability. I’d rather him be as close to 100% or get to 100% after a six week timeline and then see what he looks like than rush him in emotionally because we’re all sick of watching Carson Wentz. I do agree with with um the comment that there is no good time to play him. Like like there’s not a there’s not a game. It’s not like oh Detroit I can’t wait for Detroit. So like like at some point in time you’re just going to have to decide he’s healthy enough to play. We’ve got to go back to him. Uh because you’ve got to find out. you cannot go through we can’t get to training camp next summer and and be like well he didn’t play much again. So like that’s my that’s my big thing. That’s the most criticizable thing is he just can’t play. Uh let’s go back to the vent lines here. Dex a few more left. Let’s go to Vikes fan 47 next year on Vent Line. Hey fellas, can you hear me? Yeah, we got you man. Yeah, you guys are awesome. I still listen to you every day. Um thank you. Couple things I want to talk about. Oh, congrats deck. First of all, congrats on the child. Um, so the coaches are soft. They are pissing down their leg in the red zone. That is coaching mistakes. They’re getting way too cute and they’re not hammering the ball into the end zone. It’s a mindset thing. I think having JJ McCarthy week one kind of help like, hey, we got to be aggressive. Why? Because he’s aggressive. In the preseason, he got in a fight. Okay, games come to like four or five big plays. Jaylen Herz made four or five big plays today. He got benched in college. He’s not a traditional pocket passer, but he’s a Super Bowl champion. Tom Brady got all kinds of ridicule coming out of college. Not a strong enough arm, not enough good athlete. Hey, he has moxy. He has aggressiveness. He’s got the mindset. Like, I’m I’m in it to win it. That’s what we need. Uh Harbaugh said on draft night, what what is McCarthy? He’s the igniter. That’s what this team is missing. We got to stop babying McCarthy. Get him out there. If he was a starter, you would just play him. But it’s because he’s a young unexperienced starter. He’s the captain, the team, the captain. Get him out there. Put him in with his teammates and let him learn. He will learn overtime. We might be a 500 team this year, but he learns this year. Next year, he’s got that attitude. He’s got that experience. And next year, we’re a playoff team. That’s all I got to say. Thanks, guys. Yeah, Vikes fan 47. I mean, I don’t I don’t think they’re babying him. I think I You could use the word babying if you want to. He had a high ankle sprain. It’s It wasn’t like a fake injury. He had a high ankle sprain and it’s been about a month and high ankle sprains can can be tricky. And uh he’ll he’ll be back at some point. I think it’s like we’re like sharpening this pencil of he’s going to be back at some point if if he again if he’s not back by like the Lions game. It’s more of a panic situation for me. But I’m not going to I’m not going to I’m not going to like get on the organization for not starting him if he’s not ready physically to start today. He’s not you know he’s it’s it’s two things. If he had 20 starts under his belt, you’d feel better about putting him out there less than 100%. They’re dealing with an injury and the fact that he’s barely played and they’re just waiting for a a better spot physically to put him in. I’m not going to rip them for this. It’s very fair to say like if this is what people want to hear, they are concerned. Like yes, they’re concerned. You wouldn’t work with on his mechanics again. Like if this was just a rest like they literally had him on the field. They took him to Europe because they thought he might practice where his ankle actually because guess what? Long flights cause your ankle to blow up more. That is criticizable. criticiz I don’t understand that one. But anyway, do I think the Vikings are concerned? Yeah, absolutely. Like I think that they are concerned that they’re working with his mechanics. Okonnell can say he he enjoyed it. He’s a coach. But is that ideal? No, absolutely not. So, do I think that there’s worry here? Yes. Do I think that it’s over? God, I hope not. Yeah. The By the way, the the the red zone thing has come up a couple times, rightfully so, because they were one for a bajillion in the red zone today. Um, but I’ve heard kind of is is if you’re failing in the red zone or succeeding in the red zone, is that more coaching or talent? And I’m going to throw an interesting nugget by you guys that maybe we can expand on this week. So last year, if you if you give the full 2024 season to play out full sample size of uh of like five months of red zone success rate, here are the most successful red zone offenses from last year, a full season in 2024. And you tell me, is this coaching or is it just you need a dude at quarterback? The number one red zone team in the league, Baltimore Ravens. Number two, Buffalo Bills. Number three, Detroit Lions. And I’ll argue that that was really nice scheme. Also best offensive line and uh running back tandem and a number one overall talent quarterback who’s super accurate in Jergo. It was like a stew of reasons, right? Number four, Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With a defensive-minded head coach and a rotating carousel of offensive coordinators, I think maybe Baker Mayfield coming into his own former number one overall pick has something to do. Dex disagrees. No. That Baker Okay. No, I agree. Okay. Yeah. Like he’s just like become what he was supposed to become seven years ago. Number one overall pick quarterback. Yep. Number five, Bengals. Fifth best red red zone team in Joe Burrow. Six, Commanders. Nice to have Jaden Daniels running it in from the six-yd line, right? Sure. And then seven was the Denver Broncos and you have Bo Knicks who’s mobile and talented as a rookie quarterback and had like 60 starts in college or whatever it was, but you also have one of the greatest offensive scheming coaches in recent NFL history in Shawn Payeyton there. So unless you have a guy at quarterback like that, if you have Carson Wentz starting, for example, you’re going to stall out in the red zone a lot. So you need JJ to be a guy that can be great on third down, be great in the red zone, and obviously uh being able to play first is the first step in being great at those things. Just speaking about today’s game though, I did think that Okonnell got o over his skis with his quarterback. And to go back to what we discussed, you got to run the ball. Like, like that’s the thing, that Detroit game, you literally had a quarterback peeing down his pant leg and you were like, “No, we’re going to make this work.” It’s like, Kevin, no, you’re not. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be dumb here cuz you’re going to get dead as far as the the drive goes. Right. So, yeah, grand conversation. You need a dude today though when you just had to get some freaking points. It was a headscratcher. And and unfortunately, the reality is this, too. And I I I saw Hawinson very hot told by two officials on the field that was a catch and New York came back and said no. But the really sad thing about TJ’s disintegration as as a player is like that’s where he was supposed to make a difference all the time. Like if if you wanted to pass the ball, I mean, we talked about this how many times it was going to be Hawinson in the back of the end zone going up out musling guys, all the things that that perhaps Justin can’t do there. Um, so yeah, it’s I I get the frustration today, but yes, it would help to have a dude, and Carson Wentz is certainly not ever going to be a dude. Yeah, TJ Hawinson post knee injury has played now in 15 games. And because that one got wiped away today, he has one touchdown in 15 games postsurgery. And it’s not like And Sam Darnold was slinging it last year. And um yeah, the playoff game he caught one against the Rams. That was it. Okay. So two. So two. Yeah, cuz he has one. He has the one this year too, right? So two if you caught the play. It was still supposed to be a It was still supposed to be a thing like like that injury has cuz I I just think he’s cooked now and it’s really unfortunate. Yeah. All right, Dex. Back to Vent Line here. Purple Daily YouTube channel. Yeah. Let’s go to Nick next here. Nick, what’s up man? You’re on vacation. Hey guys. Hey man. How’s it going? Good man. So, I flew in from Sacramento, California. This is my second Vikings game ever. Uh, my first was the Raider game with Josh Dobs, which was three to nothing. So, silver lining, it was better than that. Um, it was an entertaining football game in some sick perverse ways today. That was just awful football. It was fun. Um, I think that was a catch by Hawinson. If the Devonte Smith challenge was a catch, that’s a catch. I don’t know if it makes a difference at the end of the day, but I think it was a catch. Um, watching this game went just isn’t it. And I’m super disappointed in the Vikings for not really hammering the the backup quarterback in the offseason. I know we’ve talked about that ad nauseium, but it it’s very disappointing that that we’re stuck with Wentz who doesn’t seem to even have a grip on the offense to be honest. Um, you know, that pass to Addison in the I think it was in the first quarter, he had to come back to the ball. He barely made that catch inbounds. That’s a touchdown if he floats that ball. Uh, there was another couple that could have gone to Jefferson where he could have at least scooted for 40. Um, it was so disappointing. But, uh, bright side, I love Minneapolis. Super fun being here. I’ve been to Red Rabbit, Butcher and the Boore, and tonight is Manny’s. So, I can’t say enough good things about the city. You’re good, man. That’s awesome. You’re hitting the right. Hitting the right notes. Love it, man. Uh Nick, well, enjoy the rest of your evening as you digest food and this loss. And uh hopefully we see you again sometime. Yeah. I mean, if if you’re going to lose a football game, you might as well eat at some awesome places. That’s really good. That that’s a really nice hatrick right there is what that is. It is. Uh, and maybe while Nick is in town, if he’s, you know, looking for a better HVAC situation, Standard Heating and Air Conditioning could help him out, huh? Yeah. Standard Heating, Standard Heating.com. Right now, still through the month of October, you can get $30 off your furnace tuneup. My guy Cameron came out to my place before I bought this house to check out the HVAC cuz I had no idea what condition it was. The seller didn’t really uh wasn’t certain either. So, luckily, they gave me the pass there, but also they made sure the air conditioner was working in the summer. You You don’t want to wait. You don’t want to delay any of this, Vinnie. I completely agree. You can’t wait for your for your HVAC system to be ready to rock. So, contact Standard Heating. Join their smart club. They power our hottest takes, too, which will ops deliver twice this week, boys, on Monday and Friday, uh with the Vikings playing a Thursday night game, too. So, go to standardheating.com to take care of those Hback needs. Uh hey, Factory uh F I should say FVP and Menards is uh one of our great partners here this season. And Menard’s is your one-stop shop for FVP auto parts. And that includes Splash ethanol-free RV and marine anifreeze. So if you uh if you’re looking to winterize some of your toys for the upcoming colder months, Splash Ethanol free RV and marine antifreeze is formulated to protect down to -75° F. Football. Hopefully that doesn’t happen because that would be terrible. But if it does, your swimming pools, boats, recreational vehicles, campers, and vacation homes will be protected. So head to Menard’s and stock up on Splash Anifreeze because performance matters on the road and beyond. And uh hey, thanks to Pepsi, they’ve been pumping out these Justin Jefferson souvenir cups. Pepsi, the official beverage of the Minnesota Vikings. And you can get these cups at Buffalo Wild Wings. When you stop in and order 12 wings of any style, you can get a Justin Jefferson souvenir Pepsi cup with a QR code on the side. When you scan that QR code, you can enter to win Victor’s Ride, your very own Polaris 1000 ATV that if you win, he’ll drive it right up your driveway with his little zubas. He’ll just drive up with his I don’t know if he can see well out of the uh Well, someone else was driving it the last couple years and Victor was like riding it. Yeah, he’s just chilling. That’s actually Jud driving it. It’s Jud. It was. Yeah. And they were having a conversation just like they do. Nice long talk. Yeah. Yep. Uh so, uh again, go to Buffalo Wild Wings, order 12 wings of any style, get one of these Justin Jefferson Pepsi souvenir cups, scan the QR code for your chance to win Pepsi, the official beverage of the Minnesota Vikings. And uh Buffalo Wild Wings is the preferred sports bar of the Minnesota Vikings. All right, Dan, who do we got next? Yeah, a few more. Let’s go to uh NPD. NPD, what’s up, man? You’re on Vikings Bent Line. Hello, guys. Um I’ve been watching you guys uh on and off, but it’s always a pleasant to listen to you guys uh even when you’re ranting, which I love. Um just wanted to make sure. Oh, well, and the thing is you should have like a vent line for twins and Timberwolves, just so you know. But Vikings regardless of anything. Um, uh, basically what I’ve actually had a pre-notion uh before the season is not high expectations because of JJ McCarthy, rookie quarterback. I don’t care about last year. He did not play. um but uh did not have high expectations for them. Um roughly about 500 season and of course the backup quarter quarterback uh Carson Wentz basically. Are we really um uh having too much high expectations for them even though we are venting about them actually losing to the defending uh Super Bowl champions um uh this week. So, I mean, okay, yeah, MPD brings up kind of a good philosophical question, which is if you zoom out, they’re sitting here at 3 and three, close loss to the defending Super Bowl champions. They’ve weathered a massive injury storm in the first five weeks, including week to week, not really knowing who the quarterback’s going to be because McCarthy’s been hurt. Uh, they’re not one and five, they’re not two and four, they’re three and three. Are we are is there a gap between realistic expectations and how and how we are speaking about this football team? Um I don’t think so because I mean again today was there for you to take and you didn’t take it and today was a just a great example of how games in this league work. So like do I do I feel that I should take a step back and say well Carson WZ played and blah blah blah. No, no. The game was there for you and there were chances. It’s not like the Eagles came in here and steamrololled your ass. You had chances. So, no, I don’t feel I don’t feel that we have o overshot our expectations. Even though things have certainly changed since the season began, uh I think it would be very realistic to say that this team should be 4 and two, which would be great after today’s game and that this is a game, this is one of the games you’re going to look back on. I think the Falcons game you probably just say, “Ah, okay. Pittsburgh wasn’t a great loss, but this to me is the worst loss of the season.” Yeah, I think I’m sorry. I mean, yeah, I I go back and forth a little bit because obviously if before the season you would have laid out the circumstances with the injuries and the quarterback situation and all these things, I would have said, “Oh, yeah. I mean, they’re they’re they’re not going to be six and0. They’re uh they’re they’re and some of the reasons why they’re losing these games like the red zone stuff. One for five or whatever. One for six in the red zone. Yeah. Well, part of the reasons because you got shortcircuiting blue screen of death Carson Wentz who’s your starting quarterback right now and he’s going to he’s going to do some dumb stuff in the red zone or you’re going to have a backup center who’s never played before. It it was shocking that it didn’t happen in that first game really and he snaps the ball over Carson Wentz’s head and pushes him back out of field goal range and now big leg Bill has to come in and bail you out with a 59 yard. Like there some of the reasons why they’re losing these games is because of the injuries and the guys that are in there. So like it’s fair to point that out, but there’s other stuff that’s happening uh that is extremely annoyingly self-inflicted. um feels like they should be 4-2 despite all of the bad things that they’ve had to weather though. I think that is a a fair statement. They should have won that game today, for example. Yes. Until the until the Eagles got the last touchdown pass, I thought the Vikings were going to win. I really did. I thought they they were going to find a way to win, especially on Yeah. Once they forced him into that third down, it was like, “Oh, they’re going to get the ball back.” And Exactly. Missed field goal. Just a lot of things happened. And I thought, “Okay, you know what? It’s going to be it’s going to be ugly, but no one’s going to care in two weeks. Uh, and it just feel it just feels like this is a really disappointing loss that was unnecessary. It was not a schedule loss. Philadelphia is not as good as we expected them to be. It would have been a great way to start off this four-game stretch and ultimately it’s not going to go that way. Yeah. All right, let’s go to George here. He’ll be the last vent liner on Purple Daily here on this YouTube channel. Hey guy, how are you guys? Thanks for having me on. Yeah. Wow. It’s uh I’ve been a Viking fan since maybe longer than you, Jud. I want to say 1971, right after the Chiefs beat him um in the Super Bowl. And so I’ve been through a lot of highs and lows. And it’s easy to get negative having that long history. But let me just say this. I do think that we have the the major ingredients in place to be a really good team. That’s what’s so frustrating about this. And what bothers me most about us is that it just feels like our coach is maybe not our maybe should not be our offensive coordinator. That’s the truth. We need to hire a real offensive coordinator. We need to kind of run this like the Chiefs do. He can oversee the offense, but he needs to be the game manager. Uh he needs to be c be the culture builder. He needs to do all the great things he does politically, the speeches he gives, the players want to play for him. It’s terrific. you know, uh I think it’s inspirational, but the reality is he’s a CEO. He’s not an offensive coordinator and he’s proving that our offense has no identity. We go and get players and uh to create a more balanced attack and then we go back to this kind of dream world like, oh, we have the best receivers and they can make double and triple and moves and we can magically win games and if the quarterback just does this. I don’t want that. I’ve been running a long time. And here’s what wins Super Bowls, consistency. And we need consistency on offense. We need a and and believe me, I think I think he does have all the great qualities of a CEO. And I do think he’s probably a great offensive mind, but he it’s like an idiot savant. He doesn’t look up and see the field for what it is. I mean, on we get down the goal line at second and one and we throw multiple times and we don’t run Jordan Mason right up the middle. And I’m talking about up the middle. I don’t mean wide. I don’t mean off tackle. I mean between the center and the guard or the guard and the tackle at worst where cuz he’s a one cut back and let him torture and punish the defense. And I just feel like we have all the makings to do it. And then I can say the same thing about the other side of the ball. Flores who actually identity of this team it is Flores but he’s a gambler too. And on that last throw down play where they made that that uh terrible completion to uh give them, you know, the third and 14 or whatever it was at the end of the game. I mean, how do you leave big receivers one-on-one against little quarterbacks with no help over the top? It’s third and 14. This is a hard play to make in the NFL. Play your standard defense. Don’t overthink this. Don’t be an idiot, Savant. Don’t try and wipe your ass with I when you wipe your ass with your pants down, not up. This is a easy deal. Figure it out. So anyway, all that ranting, I do want to say this. We got to go back to our quarterback. We have to see what we got. We have to go back to a balanced attack, and that means throwing slam plays, throwing bubble plays on the outside, but not negative plays backwards. Those are waste of time. We need to attack the defense and put them on our heels. And we don’t have to be the best offense in the NFL. We just need to be consistent. That’s my rant. So, we need to uh we need to our ownership needs to step up and our management needs to step up and pull Kevin aside after the season or during the season and say, “Look, man, this is this is great. I love your I love your enthusiasm, but we’re here to build a long-term Super Bowl winner. You got to get yourself you got to get yourself a real offensive coordinator.” That’s the way I feel. All right, George bringing the heat to rap here on Vikings Vline. It was very passionate, very entertaining. I will say that George the first sentence out of his mouth was the Vikings need to be more like operate more like the Chiefs. Well, one they have Patrick Mahomes and number two Andy Reid calls plays. Andy Reid is the offensive coordinator and the head coach of the Chiefs and they have Patrick Mahomes. So yeah, I get what he’s saying. I I don’t know. Like here’s So here’s the thing. Would I have do I want them to give play calling to Wes Phillips? The answer is probably no. I do not believe Wes has ever called plays before. Well, I think people would say Josh Macau because he’s the more household name. Yeah, he’s down on the field though and you probably ideally like your play caller to be upstairs if Well, I know you like you make him the offensive coordinator next year or something. Yeah. Yeah. I got to think about that because I I don’t disagree with his points. I think some of his points are good ones, but that being said, do I think the problem is play? Well, if you could assure me the new play caller wouldn’t try to make the head coach happy and would run the ball more, I would be intrigued, but I somehow think that since the head coach still has the head coach title, I’m not sure you’re going to get a play caller who’s going to go completely rogue and tell Kevin to bleep off. It’s uh by the way like the for me the the play calling nitpicks are very it’s like some of the red zone stuff drives me a little bit nuts. The the not running the ball. You don’t have to abandon the run. It’s little things. So I you know I push back at some of it. But again at the end of the day today the best offenses in the league average about 6.2 6.3 yards a play offensively. The Vikings were right under six yards a play offensively today. Yeah. and they turn the ball over twice and they they’ve and they stall out late uh on the field at the six yardd line, 5 yardd line. So, it’s not like there’s not some grand huge offensive play calling issue. There’s little tweaks here and there. And also, they’re operating with bottom half of the league quarterback talent or maybe not talent, but bottom half of the league quarterback play. Yeah. Whereas some of the teams that we’re comparing to, like the Chiefs, per George’s point, literally have either the best or second best quarterback of all time operating their offense. Yeah, that’s a cheat code that Kevin Oonnell doesn’t have access to that Andy Reid does. I think sometimes we also confuse uh individual play calling with with identities. And right now, like if I’m Okonnell right now, I go to the back to the drawing board a bit for identity and I say I got to run the ball more. I just have to. I can’t. And and look, I don’t want JJ McCarthy. Do not put him in and turn him loose. We’ve seen it. So, don’t do that. Like, you developed something with Darnold and with Kirk who were veterans, uh, that worked and that’s awesome and they could do what you wanted. Sam Darnold had a great arm. Uh, Carson Wentz does not. We don’t know that J.J. McCarthy does. Like, he’s got a strong arm, but I think it’s an identity thing. And I think what what Okonnell has to sit down and realize is I’m going to have to do things I don’t like because it’s the only way to win football games. It doesn’t mean like this play call was wrong and this play call was right and this I’m talking I’m talking I I’m talking when the team comes in after a Tuesday where you’re working day off no day off for your quarterback and the coaching staff when you’re working on things and they come in on Wednesday. I’m talking an identity. I that’s what they’re lacking right now. I I mean, this is maybe oversimplifying it, but they’re pretty good at moving the ball between the 20s through the air. And Justin Jefferson, quite frankly, is one of the best of all time between the 20s through the air. Jordan Addison, but between the 20s, I love their passing game once it gets into close quarters in part because you don’t have a generational quarterback talent to just carry you in when the field is crammed, right? you know, Carson Wentz, Carson Wentz, and I mean, Sam Darnold was actually pretty damn good in the red zone. He also was a top three overall draft guy, too. So, yeah. Uh, till the end of the season, but a young McCarthy at this point, leaning on the run game inside the 20, inside the 10. So, that from an identity standpoint, yeah, just if you need to throw the ball up and down between the 20s to get down there, awesome. and then pound it down their throats once you get to the 11 yardd line. Once it’s second and one, third and one at the six yardd line. Just run it over your left tackle and left guard. I agree completely. Here’s something else. So, the Eagles took a page from the Steelers playbook. They went heavy a ton. Bring Rouse in. Go heavy. I know it’s not sexy. I know it’s not. But give me another big man, a slightly overweight dude who’s strong, and put him on your bleeping line and go heavy. Like, it works. It works. And if it’s Yeah. It’s almost like they It’s It’s It’s almost like Well, if we do that, it becomes too obvious that we’re going to run the football. You can literally walk up there. So, like, dude, the last year the Lions, the Eagles last year, not as much this year. Yeah. literally walk up and say, “We’re going to run the ball here from the 8 yardd line on second and goal and we’re actually going to go that way. We’re going to go to the right. Have fun. We’re going to we’re going to walk you back three yards and then our running back is going to make one cut and jump into the end zone.” Jordan Mason is very good in close quarters breaking tackles. Yeah. Converting first downs. So, um I think that’s going to be a wrap here on Vikings. Two hours of therapy after a 28-22 loss and a bajillion more things to dissect. Tomorrow we’re going to give our hottest Vikings takes. Chef Jud will dice up a pie chart of blame and pretty soon there’ll be another Vikings vent line on Thursday night after Chargers Vikings. So, it kind of feels like if you still think they can make the playoffs, and I think uh the football power index is going to be not so kind to them in that category on when we do our Tuesday state of the Vikings. They probably have to win two of the next three because there’s a ton of like they’re last in their division right now and there’s other teams now that are sitting here um with better records than the Vikings in the NFC that you wouldn’t really you know like the Falcons are three and two and have a tiebreaker over the Vikings. The Panthers won their third straight are four and three. Like the teams that you’re fighting against for a wild card spot, there’s a lot of teams to climb over here. the Niners, the Seahawks, the Rams all have better records than the Vikings. So if you if you don’t win two of your next three, the math gets really really hard in the second half of the of the season. The um the Chargers at home, so the advantage is they get to stay home for Thursday night in the third quarter, losing 31 to 10 to the Colts. How about that? Yeah, which could actually be a bad thing because now they’re going to be all prickly for that game on Thursday. By the way, their jerseys, they look like highlighter pens. The Chargers are wearing something today that should not be allowed. It’s awful. I haven’t seen it yet. They literally are just yellow. Yeah, it looks pretty terrible to go back and check it out. But anyway, so yeah, thanks for everyone who uh has stuck around here for the entirety of this postgame show. Uh this is the place to be after every Vikings game live on the Purple Daily YouTube channel. And you guys, the fans make it just uh the most fan-friendly, best postgame experience in Minnesota sports. So thank you guys. Whether they win or lose, we always love commiserating with you here. Jud from the press box, Dex and Phil from the studios, and we’ll see you tomorrow morning, 9:00 a.m. Central time, for some hottest Vikings takes.

Minnesota Vikings LOSE to Philadelphia Eagles; Vikings got the whole Carson Wentz experience; Do the Vikings have to bench Wentz; Is this the worst Vikings loss of the season; Vikings fans join the show to discuss the loss and more on Vikings Vent Line.

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